Innovate UK has relaunched its Women in Innovation Awards for 2025–26, offering up to 60 awards a grant of up to £75,000, as part of a £4.5 million funding programme.
Each successful application will receive a share of the funding, alongside business support, training, networking and role-modelling opportunities, Innovate UK noted.
The programme is aimed at women founders and co-founders of late-stage startups, who are working on a minimum viable product, with early user interest or revenue, and has a growing team and plans to raise significant capital within the next 12 to 24 months.
Innovate UK, highlighted: “Internal data and external research, including insights from the Gender Index and Women’s Enterprise Scotland, show that women-founders face some of the biggest barriers when growing and scaling their businesses. Women face persistent challenges accessing investment – only 2% of equity investment in the UK goes to fully women-founded businesses.”
Interested applicants can take part in a suitability checker, before investing the time to fully apply. Applications open from 26 November 2025, with a deadline of 4 February 2026, learn more here.
Wider trend: Priorities in digital
For a recent HTN Now panel discussion, we were joined by expert panellists from across the healthcare sector to debate some of the key priorities and areas for the application of digital tools in women’s healthcare, as well as barriers to tech and the future outlook for digital in this arena. Panellists included: Saima Sharif, NHS obstetrician & gynaecologist, North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust and digital/AI adopter for women’s health; Dr Nikita Kanani MBE, GP and chief strategy and innovation officer at Aneira Health; Sally Mole, senior digital programme manager – digital portfolio delivery team at The Dudley Group; and Vicky Rothwell, lead enterprise architect, Aire Logic.
For a recent HTN Now webinar on the role of data and digital in supporting population health management (PHM), we were joined by a panel including Victoria Townshend, portfolio director(associate) with the GIRFT Elective Team; Mayur Vibhuti, CCIO and GP clinical lead for digital at Kent and Medway ICB; and Harry Thirkettle, director of health and innovation from Aire Logic. Our panellists explored and discussed approaches to PHM, successes, challenges, what works and what doesn’t, through to measuring the impact of PHM interventions.
Have your say! HTN is producing a deep dive report to reveal health and care pain points with digital systems, launching a survey to find out from healthcare professionals where the biggest challenges lie. We would love to hear your views and would like to invite you to input into a report we’re producing to highlight these. Your input is highly valued, and we’re keen to hear your experiences, learnings, and highlight areas within digital where progress can be made. To complete the survey, please click here.
