UKRI Healthy Ageing Challenge 2019-2024, delivered by Innovate UK and ESRC

Successful Completion of the UKRI Healthy Ageing Challenge: A Collaborative Effort   We are pleased to announce the successful completion of the UKRI Healthy Ageing Challenge. This initiative has brought together a diverse community of researchers, innovators, and organisations, all working towards the shared goal of enhancing the health and well-being of older adults.   We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all participants whose invaluable contributions have helped shape the progress made during this challenge. The insights and solutions generated will continue to influence and guide efforts in the field of healthy ageing for years to come.   As we close this chapter, we invite you to explore our final report, which highlights the impact of the Healthy Ageing Challenge. You can read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/eBE9VTNR   Although the challenge has come to a close, our work is far from over. Stay connected with us for updates on ongoing projects and new opportunities in Healthy Ageing by joining our LinkedIn group https://lnkd.in/d9wj8cU and following Innovate UK and ESRC: Economic and Social Research Council.   Thank you for your continued dedication and commitment to advancing healthy ageing. Together, we will keep building on the foundations laid through this remarkable initiative.

Read our interview with Toby Venning of Cross Digital about Elate, an app that allows care providers, support workers, support recipients and their family to plan and deliver person-centred care. The company received support from the Healthy Ageing Challenge.

We spoke to Dr Lisa Riste, founder of FLAG-Me about the importance of the FLAG-Me Vision system and how it can help people with sight impairments access the help they need when visiting a pharmacy. 

📢 New Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) Funding Opportunity (+ Innovate UK travel grants to enable UK SMEs to apply for funding to attend the IHI partnering event in Brussels) For IHI's Call 9 they say "We want you to use your creativity! Our Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda is full of untapped opportunities - and we need you to turn them into proposals for IHI projects." Whilst previous IHI calls defined the challenges that applicants had to address, Call 9 will be more open in scope and "will welcome proposals covering any aspect of the IHI's Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA)". In their proposal, applicants will have to select which of the five SRIA specific objectives that their proposal falls under, so the IHI advises potential applicants to study the SRIA carefully." UK organisations are eligible to apply to IHI Call 9 - see the full call documents once published for the full eligibility rules. USEFUL RESOURCES: 👉 Further information on the new 'applicant driven approach that the IHI is piloting got Call 9: https://lnkd.in/gP8E2AaN 👉 Online info session on 10 Oct. For more info and to register see https://lnkd.in/gw2Y6jP5 👉 To help you share ideas & start networking, IHI are hosting a face-to-face brokerage event in Brussels on 12-13 November & registration is open NOW at https://lnkd.in/gXZ26sUx If you would like to attend, please register soon, as places are limited. There will also be an online networking event on 14 November. 👉 If you are from a UK-based SME (Small and Medium-sized Enterprise) you can apply for an Innovate UK / Innovate UK Business Connect travel grant of up to £700 towards the costs of attending the partnering event. https://lnkd.in/ghFsRsru 👉 The IHI have also set up an online networking platform to help you make connections at https://lnkd.in/gPsrEXqw 👉 Full IHI Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA): https://lnkd.in/geMBJAav Please re-share Innovate UK, Medical Research Council, Jane Watkins, Belen Rebollo-Garcia, Natalie Withenshaw Thank you #IHITransformingHealth #HealthResearch #HealthInnovation #EUResearch #EUFunding #HorizonEU #HorizonEurope

On Youth Mental Health Day, Innovate UK would like to highlight some of our Mindset projects that focus on developing immersive digital mental health therapeutics for children and young people. A report published by NHS England in 2023 shows that one in five children and young people in England aged 8 to 25 had a probable mental disorder. Mindset aims to improve treatment options, offering faster, more cost effective and accessible support for individuals with mental health concerns. ➡️ Developed by Little Beginnings Ltd, MindPsyis a compassionate co-pilot app for young people. It passively analyses mental health decline through a smartphone and provides mentorship through artificial intelligence Avatars. ➡️ The Depict VR project, led by Borderpoint Films, helps young people who hear voices to share their experiences using a virtual environment. It is a cost-effective platform to help patients sooner. ➡️ Ascentys Ltd's groundbreaking VR-based video game provides an inexpensive, easy-to-use digital therapy for children’s depression, as a potentially vastly more effective alternative to existing gold standard treatments. ➡️ Holo-log’s revolutionary holographic streaming platform offers a profoundly enriched communication medium for telepsychiatry, delivering a more effective therapeutic solution tailored to young people. ➡️ Safe Space Labs Ltd’s artificial intelligence-driven digital health and education immersive platform, utilising AR, empowers young people with social communication challenges, fostering confidence and independence. ➡️ Awen uses the immersive power of VR and the scientifically proven benefit of feeling awe, to create radical digital experiences that empower all young people to overcome anxiety and stress by achieving calm and confidence. Learn more about these projects and explore our other Mindset projects here: https://lnkd.in/eSqwyeVd #stem4YMHD and #ControlYourScroll #Mindset Dr Fin Williams Adam Wacey Dr. Sayed Kazmi Camille Sainsbury

Have you registered for the virtual #HealthyLongevity Global Innovator Summit yet? Hosted by @theNAMedicine, the Summit is a two-day virtual conference guaranteed to inspire innovation in the field of health longevity. Register now at https://lnkd.in/ezBmreYT.

So delighted to officially welcome successful applicants from our second competition to our Mindset Programme. Massive well done to you all, we can't wait to see the positive impact your innovations will have on mental health! ⭐

Support for London based social enterprises - accelerator/grant webinar tomorrow! The School for Social Entrepreneurs and MedCity have announced the second cohort of the London Health Accelerator for Social Enterprise across seven London boroughs (Camden, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Islington, Lambeth, Southwark, Tower Hamlets). The accelerator will work 20 senior leaders in London who want to grow and scale their social enterprise while tackling health inequities in underserved communities. The programme will help participants to create and safeguard jobs, develop new products and services and enter new markets. Participants will also have the opportunity to apply for a £5,000 grant. Join for a short online webinar from 11am – 12pm on Wednesday 21st August, where you can find out more about the programme. You can register here: https://lnkd.in/gzfPikAZ If you know colleagues and/or peers you think may be interested in attending, please do feel free to share this post and send this invitation on.

🏌♀️ ⛳ 🏌♂️ We chatted to Anthony Blackburn of Golf in Society about the charity, a project supported by the UKRI Healthy Ageing Challenge, and their new guide on the therapeutic potential of golf and how to work with health and social care professionals.

I’m controlling that wheelchair within Mixed Reality! 🤯 Innovate UK ‘s Mindset XR 3 is just around the corner. That means a third round of funding for XR solutions that tackle mental health! Well done to Health Innovation South West for a fantastic event today, launching the funding round. We are ourselves developing solutions for mental health using XR, and personally, it’s one of the most rewarding areas I’ve ever worked in. All the demos available today were incredible, so much good is happening in this space. Special mention to Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust doing amazing work Buzz Matthews. You can see me sitting in their wheelchair, which I could control in Mixed Reality. Inside Mental Health is also one to watch, and who are reducing mental health stigma. Amazing. Cineon are reducing anxiety with their exposure therapy. Also great to meet you James Rowberry, Gemma Mendham, Jane Guest