New IGNITE report sets out system readiness test for health leaders

A new report from UCLPartners and UCL sets out a practical framework to help health leaders consider whether their organisations are ready to adopt and scale innovation successfully.

Health systems have no shortage of innovation ambition. The harder challenge is making sure they are ready to use innovation well.

A new report from the IGNITE Health Innovation Summit, a collaboration between UCLPartners and UCL, argues that the next phase of health innovation will depend not only on what emerging technologies can do, but on whether health systems have the conditions in place to use them effectively.

From innovation ambition to system readiness: what health leaders need to do now introduces a system readiness test. This is a practical set of leadership questions to support decisions about whether an innovation should be adopted, scaled, paused, redesigned or stopped.

A practical framework for innovation decisions

The test asks leaders to look beyond whether a technology works in isolation and consider the wider conditions needed for it to succeed in practice, including whether it addresses a real need, who will act on the insight it provides, what evidence will demonstrate value, and whether the right workforce, workflows, data, governance and resilience are in place.

It is not intended as a formal diagnostic or scoring tool. Instead, it provides a framework to support judgement, discussion and decision-making, including in board, strategy, digital, innovation and transformation discussions.

Ilias Zapantis, Director of Futures, UCLPartners said:

“There is no shortage of promising innovation across health and care. The challenge is creating the conditions that allow it to work in practice. Too often, decisions focus on the technology itself. This framework helps leaders look at the wider system around it: the problem being solved, who will act on the insight, whether accountability is clear, and whether workforce, workflows, data and governance are ready. That is what turns innovation ambition into real-world impact.”

From technological possibility to system readiness

The report draws on discussions from the 2026 IGNITE Health Innovation Summit, which brought together clinicians, academics, policymakers, industry leaders, innovators and patient representatives.

The report highlights the importance of ensuring that clinical intelligence improves decisions rather than simply generating more predictions or alerts; building trusted approaches to data use; and treating cyber resilience and AI accountability as patient safety and service continuity issues.

It also calls for stronger links between clinical need, research, evaluation, procurement and implementation, and argues that health systems need to prepare for emerging technology horizons before they reach routine use, including developments in quantum and post-quantum cybersecurity.

Felipe Fouto, Director of the Academic Careers Office, said:

“The pace of development in areas such as AI, advanced data and quantum technologies means health systems cannot wait until a technology is ready for widespread use before thinking about how to adopt it responsibly. IGNITE brings together research, clinical, policy, industry and patient perspectives to look ahead, not just at what technologies may become possible, but at the decisions health systems need to make now to be ready for them.”

Read: From innovation ambition to system readiness: what health leaders need to do now

IGNITE is a collaboration between UCL and UCLPartners, bringing together research, clinical, policy, industry and innovation perspectives to explore future-facing challenges in health and care.