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The University of Manchester collaboration to deliver health innovation

3 min


Christabel Pankhurst Institute for Health Technology and Innovation c. The University of Manchester

Following the launch of the Christabel Pankhurst Institute for Health and Technology in Manchester, Quadrant Health sits down with interim manager Chris Taylor to learn more.

A consortium led by The University of Manchester launched a new multimillion-pound research and innovation institute. Named the Christabel Pankhurst Institute for Health and Technology, the institute will build on Manchester’s academic strengths in digital health and advanced materials to discover innovative health and care solutions.

By building on investment from the University, Manchester Science Partnerships (MSP), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and The Alan Turing Institute, the initiative has created a total budget of more than £25m.

Quadrant Health spoke to Chris Taylor, vice president for digital strategy and business engagement for the University and interim director of the institute, to learn about what benefits the institute will bring to the city.

Chris Taylor, The University of Manchester

“The University of Manchester has very strong, basic research strengths,” Chris said.

It is these strengths that the collaboration will capitalise on to develop innovative products and services for the healthcare sector. Alongside boosting the long-term health benefits and providing services for the healthcare sector, the institute will drive business growth and employment in the city region.

“It is an opportunity for economic growth in the city, so it is an opportunity to add value jobs to the city and in a sector that has quite high productivity,” explains Chris. “It is absolutely an opportunity to improve health in Greater Manchester, to improve the way health and care is delivered and to tackle some of the inequalities. Greater Manchester is very diverse in terms of the health of its citizens and some levelling up in that respect is something it can help deliver as well,” Chris continues.

Making a profound impact on health and care

The institute was launched following a £5m Local Growth Fund awarded from Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership and Greater Manchester Combined Authority. Located in the state-of-the-art research and business development spaces at MSP’s Citylabs campus, it will provide support for business growth by facilitating better collaboration between the NHS, researchers, and industry, through MSP, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Health Innovation Manchester and the University.

Explaining what to expect with the support the institute will provide, Chris explains it will bring “science and engineer researchers into the healthcare arena” to help them move products from a “basic idea through to deployment in the health and care system.”

Playing a critical role in pulling innovations through from basic research to market-ready products and services, the institute will help accelerate these products and services into clinical use through Greater Manchester’s devolved health and care system and established innovation pathway.

As well as being an external flagship for the University’s rapidly expanding health technology portfolio, the institute will promote needs-led health technology research and innovation, providing end-to-end support for translation into practice.

The institute will build a community of practice, as well as “knowledge economy” around health and care technology, creating a create a pool of expertise in the area that will help inward investment, says Chris.

The work we do can really make a difference.

With digital technology and AI the institute promises to make a profound impact on health and care in Greater Manchester. Chris tells Quadrant Health: “The work we do can really make a difference.”