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Invention for Innovation (i4i) Programme launch

The Invention for Innovation (i4i) Programme launched to healthcare product innovators on 16 July 2008 at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London.

Professor Lord Darzi, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health, welcomed the i4i programme as a timely contribution to innovation research supporting the NHS. He said:

"Initiatives such as i4i will help us to achieve the best care for a 21st century health service."

Addressing innovators involved in ideas generation, applied R&D, manufacturing and marketing of healthcare products, Professor Dame Sally C. Davies, Director General of Research and Development, Department of Health, said:

"i4i is an important part of the NIHR portfolio and will speed up the innovation process, ensuring that good ideas become products for the NHS more quickly for the benefit of patients and their carers."

i4i is building on the previous established NEAT (New and Emerging Applications of Technology) and HTD (Health Technology Devices) programmes to accelerate the translation of healthcare ideas into new and innovative products for the NHS.

i4i will fund future product development through three funding streams for investigators. It is also the umbrella for NIHR investment in the pilot Healthcare Technology Co-operatives as well as other partnerships through the i4i Challenge Fund for Innovation.

Read the i4i launch programme

View i4i launch presentations