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NHS Innovation Accelerator

The NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) is an NHS England initiative delivered in partnership with England’s 15 Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs).

The NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA), hosted by UCLPartners, supports exceptional individuals to scale and adopt mature innovations across the NHS for enhanced patient outcomes, staff benefit and to grow employment in the UK.

We do this by working closely with the AHSNs and wider system on access, supporting our Fellows maintain or reach maturity, gathering more real-world evidence and solidifying their commercial models.

Why was the NHS Innovation Accelerator set up?

The NIA was launched in July 2015 to support delivery of the Five Year Forward View, and more recently the NHS Long Term Plan, and it aims to:

  • Help create the conditions and cultural change necessary for proven innovations to be adopted faster and more systematically in the NHS
  • Deliver innovation into practice for demonstrable patient and population benefit
  • Learn from Fellows’ experiences so that others benefit from knowledge generated

NHS Innovation Accelerator Fellows

NIA Fellows are the exceptional individuals being supported to scale their promising innovations which are already in use in at least one site in the NHS or elsewhere. To date, the NIA has supported 80 Fellows representing 85 innovations, generating over £200 million in investments. Each of the Fellows (and their innovations) have been through a rigorous, competitive selection process.

NHS Innovation Accelerator innovations

The NIA portfolio of innovations addresses significant challenges facing the health and care system in England.