InnoScot Health has issued a call for early-stage innovators including healthcare entrepreneurs in their final year of training or first year of practice, SMEs, and student entrepreneurs, with support in place to develop ideas toward commercialisation.
Ideas or innovations are sought across a number of areas, including those improving patient care quality, safety, or outcomes; those increasing efficiency or affordability; those supporting workforce wellbeing; and those enabling data-driven and remote care transformation.
A package of support will be provided from InnoScot Health to successful applicants, featuring expertise on intellectual property, advice on regulation, project management support, commercialisation guidance, and funding information. The ultimate goal, it states, will be to help bring new products or services to the market that can make a difference to patients and service users.
An online drop-in session is set to take place on 11 March from 12-12.45pm, for interested parties to informally discuss their ideas with experts and to help formulate submissions. The deadline for entries is 30 April, with a form provided to submit an idea.
Head of Innovation, Robert Rea said: “Our experts are particularly looking for novel ideas that target areas of unmet need and offer commercial potential, so if you believe that you fit the criteria, then we look forward to hearing from you soon. It might be a method of solving an issue that they encounter every day, or an approach to smarter working, freeing up precious NHS staff time, but we’re happy to discuss any areas of healthcare innovation – all are welcome.”
Wider trend: Digital transformation in Scotland
The digital health and care directorate in Scotland has issued an update for 2025/26 on its national digital health and care strategy delivery plan, pointing to current status and anticipated delivery dates for work across digital access, inclusion, services, foundations and skills. This follows a number of developments towards a renewed focus, it states, aligning with NHS Scotland’s operational improvement plan. Over the last year, the directorate highlights its digital inclusion programme, “Connecting to Care”, launched in April 2024 with seven funded projects across Scotland, developing models of digital inclusion to support people in accessing digital services and support.
NHS National Services Scotland has published a prior information notice for the procurement of a digital cognitive behaviour therapy multi-treatment platform. The agency aims to procure a digital solution to support self-management CBT digital therapeutic treatments across areas including depression, anxiety, OCD, panic attacks and other similar disorders. NSS has outlined several key deliverables of the platform, including the ability to offer tailored treatment for various conditions “across a range of demographic groups, including young people and older adults” in order to “ensure the maximum effectiveness”.
The Scottish government has shared how the objectives set out in its Women’s Health Plan for Scotland are to be achieved across two phases. The first phase sets out priority areas to: ensure women have access to specialist menopause services for advice and support on the diagnosis and management of menopause; access to information for girls and women on menstrual health and management options; access for women to appropriate support, speedy diagnosis and best treatment for endometriosis; access to abortion and contraception services; rapid and easily accessible postnatal contraception; and to reduce inequalities in health outcomes for women’s general health, including work on cardiac disease.
