Title: Commercialisation of innovations from the UK National Health Service

Authors: Michael Smith, Richard Clark

Addresses: Sheffield Hallam University, City Campus, Howard Street, Sheffield S1 1WB, UK. ' Medipex Ltd., icon Business Centres (Leeds) Ltd., 4100 Park Approach, Thorpe Park, Leeds LS15 8GB, UK

Abstract: The potential opportunities offered by developing innovative ideas from staff within the UK National Health Service (NHS) was recognised in 2000 and this paper describes a regional organisation, Medipex, which was set up to undertake technology transfer and commercialisation of innovations from the NHS in Yorkshire. The approach adopted by Medipex has been shown to be a successful model for the commercialisation of IP, obtaining private sector investment and winning external recognition after its first three years trading. Analysis of the outputs demonstrates that though the majority of ideas emerge from service use, the innovations that have high-value commercial potential emerge from research undertaken in the hospitals.

Keywords: technology transfer; commercialisation; medical technology; public health; organisational models; UK; United Kingdom; National Health Service; NHS; innovation; Medipex; private sector investment; intellectual property; research and development; R&D; hospitals; medical staff.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTTC.2010.030213

International Journal of Technology Transfer and Commercialisation, 2010 Vol.9 No.3, pp.238 - 254

Published online: 11 Dec 2009 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article