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Supporting the next generation of innovators in the national UTC HealthTech competition

Thursday 26 February 2026

Jess McNeill and Gemma Wheeler

Earlier this year, we were pleased to get involved with a national school HealthTech competition that empowers young people to create, design, and develop solutions to unmet health needs.

The NIHR HRC in Paediatrics and Child Health team were delighted to support a national health technology design and innovation competition, in collaboration with Baker Dearing Educational Trust who manage 44 University Technical Colleges (UTCs) across the country. It was truly inspiring to see creative and inspiring young minds come together to address some of today’s biggest child health challenges, and we were blown away by the innovative solutions they came up with!

What is the UTC HealthTech competition?

The UTC HealthTech Challenge bridges the healthcare, education, and innovation sectors by empowering young people to ideate and create innovative solutions for real-world unmet health needs in a national competition. The challenge is also Baker Award compliant, recognising the hard work and new skills developed by students in this extra-curricular activity.

In this year’s competition, UTC students in Year 10 and Year 12 were challenged to specifically focus on children and young people’s health in three key areas:

  1. Mental health
  2. Long-term conditions, such as asthma and diabetes
  3. Neurodevelopmental conditions, such as autism and ADHD

Students were invited to participate in teams of 3-5 people, ensure they thoroughly researched their chosen topic, and draw on their unique strengths as young people designing for young people (view the briefing video below).

To support the students in their innovation journey, NIHR HRC-PCH recorded a series of “HealthTech Challenge Chats” – 20-40 minute “podcasts” with experts in each theme area. These insightful discussions were also transformed into engaging visual summaries by Studio Noodle, as a useful reference throughout the project.

Dr Gemma Wheeler, Senior Project Manager at the NIHR HRC in Paediatrics and Child Health, supported the planning and delivery of the UTC HealthTech Challenge.

“It has been an incredible joy and privilege to be a part of the 2026 UTC HealthTech Challenge. It is inspiring to see the creativity, empathy and ambition with which all of the students have approached the challenge, as well as the support and encouragement they have shown each other at the competition final today. I think we have just witnessed the start of some long and successful careers in healthtech for many of these fantastic young innovators!”

Dr Gemma Wheeler
Senior Project Manager, NIHR HRC PCH

Congratulations to the winners!

After months of hard work, students travelled to Sheffield for the UTC HealthTech Challenge Competition Final. Throughout the day, representing teams from each of the participating schools presented their projects to their peers as well as a panel of expert judges.

A fantastic panel of judges with cross-sector expertise were brought together to support the competition final, including:

  • Kate Ambrosi, Chief Executive Officer at Baker Dearing Educational Trust
  • Richard Stubbs, Chief Executive at Health Innovation Yorkshire and Humber
  • Paul Dimitri, Director of the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Paediatrics and Child Health
  • Nathaniel Mills, Chief Operating Officer at NIHR HealthTech Research Centre Network
  • Philippa Hedley-Takhar, Head of Implementation & Client Experience at XR Therapeutics
  • Ursula Ankeny, Design Researcher at Lab4Living, Sheffield Hallam University
  • Godswill Erhunmwunse, Software Engineering Apprentice at Royal London and alumni of UTC Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park

Each of the judges reflected on how difficult it was to select just a few winners from so many fantastic projects, and winners from two age groups were selected in five prize categories, shown below.

We are delighted to share that you too can see some of these fantastic innovations, as the teams from the Overall Winner categories in each age group will be invited to exhibit their projects in The Spark, home of the National Centre for Child Health Technology, when it opens on the Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park later this year.

Congratulations to everyone who took part!

This event was supported and developed in partnership with Baker Dearing Educational Trust, Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, and Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity.

And with thanks to our HealthTech Challenge Chat Speakers:

Laura Johnson, Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust
Steve Jones, Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust
Nathaniel Mills, NIHR HealthTech Research Centre Network