Scotland should be “immensely proud” of being named sole UK collaborator on a major pan-European programme aimed at transforming healthcare through digital innovation, says a formal NHS partner.
Co-funded by the EU, the UNITE consortium is bringing together a diverse group of partners to collaborate on the development of innovative digital solutions and address pressing healthcare challenges, with Scottish Enterprise among those selected to take an international lead.
The transformative £17 million programme envisions “a borderless European digital health ecosystem” that will open calls for proposals to “cascade funding to highly innovative European companies”.
These calls, UNITE says, will support startups, scale-ups, and SMEs in delivering deep tech solutions that can bridge regional innovation gaps, enhance Europe’s global competitiveness, and improve equity of access to healthcare.
NHS Scotland partner InnoScot Health is represented on the steering group, supporting Scottish Enterprise by providing knowledge and expertise of commercialising health service ideas, as well as the ability to connect with NHS innovators and the wider Scottish healthcare landscape.
InnoScot Health will also be participating in two of five multinational UNITE Ecosystem Working Groups – ‘Start Up Scale Up’ and ‘Experimentation’.
It believes that the country’s healthcare ambitions can benefit hugely from direct involvement in UNITE, with up to 10 Scottish SMEs set to take part in joint transnational innovation calls and significant grant funding available to them.
Innovation Manager Fiona Schaefer said: “This programme represents a vital asset in efforts to bridge the continent’s digital health divide and Scotland should be immensely proud to be part of it, combined with all the cutting-edge healthcare benefits our country stands to gain across the four-year initiative.
“We fully support UNITE’s drive to advance digital health technologies and look forward to playing a meaningful role in their development, helping to embed fresh, forward-thinking innovation across NHS Scotland in response to challenges such as ageing populations and healthcare workforce shortages.
“It’s also a hugely collaborative drive with at least £8 million of the programme’s budget expected to be allocated to interregional innovation projects focused on identifying, developing, and rolling out next-generation digital health solutions. That’s a great opportunity for Scotland.
“Not only does it mean exposure to international investors and networks for Scottish innovators, but also the attraction of international R&D and talent into Scotland with the first call expected to go live around July.”
Scottish Enterprise – which is actively investing in the programme – is leading on building commercial and technology value chains across regions, which are expected to open up opportunities for healthcare teams to partner with startups and SMEs developing the latest technology.
InnoScot Health is delighted to be supporting that process and Project Manager Gillian Henderson said: “We believe our involvement in UNITE can help to facilitate fresh connections between the NHS and innovation-minded companies which can in turn accelerate homegrown digital ideas.
“By co-developing solutions now, they can start to collaboratively prepare to benefit from the UNITE innovation calls by making their progressive ideas an attractive proposition for further development and investment.”
Key objectives of the programme are to streamline public procurement processes and share health data across partner regions, ensuring that innovative solutions can be integrated into regional healthcare systems more efficiently.
Planned activities include:
- Funded open calls for joint interregional projects
- Agile piloting of selected startups
- Online training courses, establishing a baseline of knowledge
- Joint public procurement planning
Scottish Enterprise is encouraging as many groups and individuals as possible – from NHS Scotland staff to companies and organisations across public, private and community/not for profit sectors – to complete a UNITE survey for effective “ecosystem mapping across Europe”.
Digital Economy Specialist and Project Manager for UNITE project in Scotland, Sarah Forbes of Scottish Enterprise said: “As an active member of the consortium, we will continue to build relationships with our partners through regular communication and support towards project outputs. We will share innovation best practice from our region and instigate match making opportunities into the Scottish health and digital ecosystem with our partners.”
By 2028, the consortium plans to provide policy recommendations to decision-makers at both regional and European levels, ensuring that the lessons learned from the UNITE programme can be integrated into future initiatives.
