WM Health Technology Innovation Accelerator benefits - University of Birmingham
The West Midlands Health Tech Innovation Accelerator (WMHTIA) was a unique consortium that brings together diverse providers of support for the health technology sector, especially to overcome the multiple challenges to reach commercialisation.
Unlike traditional innovation accelerators that focus primarily on preparing startups for external investment, the WMHTIA has a broader mission, including:
a) Single access point for support to health tech companies at various stages of development
b) Transforming the regional innovation ecosystem
c) Establishing the West Midlands as a preferred location for medical technology entrepreneurs.
The WMHTIA brought together 21 partners from the academic, commercial and health care sectors into an agile consortium capable of covering the full spectrum of support required by HealthTech enterprises.
Objectives
Objectives
The evaluation undertaken by City-REDI was designed to
- Support implementation of WMHTIA by adopting place based developmental evaluation approach
- Build the evidence base for further investment in the West Midlands Heath Tech innovation ecosystem including benefits to supported enterprises, the wider economy and health system
- Capture learning on how develop an effective regional innovation ecosystem for the commercialisation of promising health technologies
The Team
The Team
George Bramley- Principal Analyst. Lead evaluator with overall responsibility for the development of the evidence base on the effectiveness of WMHTIA.
Kelvin Humphreys – Principal Analyst (to July 2024). Co-workstream lead responsible for developing investment and business case and economic impact assessment of WMHTIA.
Tom Burton (Senior Economic Analyst) replaced Kelvin Humphreys in November 2024.
Dr Chloe Billing, Dr Annum Rafique, Dr Magda Cepeda Zorilla, Dr Juliane Schwarz, Gerardo Javier Arriaga Garcia - Research Fellow. Researcher involved in all aspects of data collection and analysis and reporting.
Project lead contact details: George Bramley
Project Support contact details: N/A
Publications and Downloads
Publications and Downloads
West Midlands Health Tech Innovation Accelerator Evaluation Report
This report supplements the West Midlands Health Tech Innovation Accelerator (WMHTIA) Pathfinder Report and provides updated information on enterprises engaged and supported over three years of the programme, new initiatives supported towards the end of year 2 and in year 3 including the Primary Care Accelerator, Reg-Navigator, AI-Hub and Venture Readiness Canvas and WMHTIA programme impacts including agreed core metrics with Innovate UK.
Authors: George Bramley, Tom Burton, Luan Linden-Phillips, Gerardo Javier Arriaga Garcia, Annum Rafique, Chloe Billing, Derek Sear, Nikolas Venetsaneas, Matt Lyons, Huanjia Ma, Bethan Miles and Alexandre Mauser.
September 2026
West Midlands Health Tech Innovation Accelerator (WMHTIA) Pathfinder Report
This report summarises the achievements of the West Midlands Health Tech Innovation Accelerator (WMHTIA) and learning for supporting the commercialisation of promising health technologies.
Authors: George Bramley, Tom Burton, Luan Linden-Phillips, Gerardo Javier Arriaga Garcia, Annum Rafique, Kelvin Humphreys, Chloe Billing, Magda Cepeda Zorrilla, Derek Sear, Nikolaos Venetsaneas, Bethan Miles, Matt Lyons, Huanjia Ma, Alexandre Mauser, Juliane Schwarz, Richard Bari
November 2025
MTC developed have produced a White Paper in conjunction with City-REDI, the wider University of Birmingham WMHTIA team describing an evaluative framework for assessing commercialisation of health technologies.
- Impactful Business Acceleration with the Venture Readiness Canvas