Children & Young People HealthTech Accelerator: Meet the companies and young people involved
Monday 25 November 2024
We are pleased to share details of the 12 incredible startup companies involved with the new Sheffield-based health technology accelerator programme, KidsUP, that launched last month, and to highlight the work we have done with local young people who have been instrumental in shaping the programme already.
This October, UP Ventures announced the launch of the new Children and Young People’s (CYP) HealthTech Accelerator, a 12-week programme that will support a cohort of startup companies in their journey to develop medical technologies designed for children and young people, fast-tracking them through the NHS and into international markets. This programme will be delivered through a partnership between Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Par Equity, and local authorities in South Yorkshire, and we are delighted to offer our support as an NIHR HealthTech Research Centre. This accelerator programme is the result of years of work dedicated to creating something unprecedented: a dedicated platform where innovation meets the real needs of children and young people.
Meet the startup companies
With rising rates of childhood mental health challenges, widespread chronic conditions like asthma, and the significant impact of rare diseases on young lives, the need for transformation in paediatric care has never been more urgent. The 12 companies that have been selected to be a part of the accelerator have incredible potential to transform healthcare for children and young people across the UK. By bringing them together, this programme represents a significant step forward by uniting clinical excellence, entrepreneurial innovation, and crucially, the voices of young people themselves.
12 companies are embarking on this 12-week journey here in Sheffield:
- DGGlobal – Digital diabetes management tools
- Hypoplas – Reinventing the hospital gown
- Interlinked AB – Smart IV connectors
- REBEL BIONICS – Next-gen bionic hands
- Seluna Ltd – AI-powered pediatric sleep diagnostics
- SleepCogni – Sleep improvement technology
- SurePulse Medical Limited Medical – Wireless newborn monitoring
- Tiny Medical Apps – Digital Health Passport for asthma
- TriMedika – Advanced medical thermometry
- XR Therapeutics – Immersive mental health care
- AppliedNanodetectors – Breath-based diagnostics
- MindPsy – Youth mental health prevention
Nathaniel Mills, Head of Operations, NIHR HealthTech Research Centre Network, says:
“This programme’s unique advantage lies in its connection to the upcoming National Centre for Child Health Technology (NCCHT) – set to be a world-leading hub for paediatric innovation. Sheffield should be immensely proud. This is about creating solutions that will impact children not just here, but globally. It’s about saying that when it comes to our children’s health, investment in our children and young people isn’t just important – it’s essential for all our futures.”
How young people are shaping the accelerator programme
At the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Paediatrics and Child Health, we are dedicated to ensuring the voices of CYP and their families are placed right at the centre of the research and medical technology development that we support. We are delighted to be supporting the KidsUP accelerator by bringing together young people to form a Young Advisors Panel that will provide crucial insights and feedback for the startup companies involved.
Ten amazing Young Advisors, aged 13-18, have joined us from the University Technical College (UTC) Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park after successfully completing a competitive application process. As part of their involvement in the programme, we will be running regular workshops and skill-building coaching sessions with the Young Advisors, where they will be able to develop skills in critical thinking, design approaches, and more. To date, the Young Advisors have already demonstrated their insight, empathy and creativity, by reviewing each company’s initial pitch at the KidsUP Accelerator launch event, completing training in Design Thinking and approaches to giving feedback, and practising their new skills in a live project within the NIHR HRC in Paediatrics and Child Health portfolio. We are delighted to be working alongside them in this fantastic programme, and look forward to sharing more updates in the coming months.
Find out more about the launch of the accelerator programme using the link below.