A group of young people have played a vital role in developing cutting-edge innovations in children’s healthcare as part of a pioneering Sheffield programme.
The ‘Young People’s Advisory Panel’ were part of the city’s first KidsUP Paediatric HealthTech Accelerator, a collaborative programme designed to speed up the delivery of creative, effective and sustainable child health technologies.
KidsUP has helped 12 ambitious tech companies refine their innovative products to improve children’s healthcare and promote them to the NHS and global healthcare market.
The young people’s role was to act as mentors on the intensive 13-week programme and give robust feedback to the companies who came to Sheffield from all over the UK and Europe for support to fast-track their ideas.
At the programme’s closing Innovation Showcase event, held at Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park, organisers credited the young people with playing a pivotal role in its success.
Danny Meaney, founder and CEO of UP Ventures and KidsUP programme leader said: “All participants in our first cohort have strengthened their products, their value propositions and the way they present themselves to the NHS, investors and end users. Without a doubt, the young people’s panel have played a vital role in achieving this success.
“As the whole purpose of KidsUP was to focus on delivering HealthTech to meet the needs of young people we felt it was essential to include them in the process, and our panel have proved this was fundamentally a good idea. Their input was insightful, direct and enthusiastic.”
All the young people involved are students at the UTC Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park Academy, where they went through a competitive process to become panel members. Aged 13 to 18, they also gained coaching through the programme to develop skills in critical thinking, understanding design processes and communicating feedback.
Dr Gemma Wheeler, of the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Paediatrics and Child Health hosted at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, facilitated their involvement. She said: “It’s been fantastic to see the young people play such an important part in KidsUP. They’ve been treated as equal partners by everyone involved and the companies have truly engaged with them and listened to what they’ve had to say. It’s been such a positive space to work in and a rewarding experience for everyone.”
Young people’s panel member Caitlin said: “I found it interesting to learn how different ideas come about and what different health situations young people are having to deal with – and how these new ideas can help them in future.
Eric said: “It’s been a great opportunity to see what companies have to do behind the scenes to make new products.”
Godswill said “I really enjoyed meeting the companies and also learning more about how to express ourselves and give feedback in a positive way.”
KidsUP participant Scott Black of Seluna, which is developing software to more quickly diagnose paediatric sleep disorders in children, said: “The opportunity to present to kids was fantastic as the feedback they gave was unfiltered, you might say more brutal than anything adults may say to us. That was really good as it quickly got us to the root of things and helped us to look again at details and fixes.”
Philippa Hedly-Takhar of XR Therapeutics, which develops immersive therapy technology to help children tackle anxiety, said: “It was great to have the opportunity to demonstrate our technology to the Young People’s Panel and we very much appreciated the richness of their feedback and the questions they posed.”
KidsUP Young People’s Advisory Panel members were presented with certificates from Danny Meaney and Chief Executive of Sheffield Children’s Hospital NHS
Foundation Trust Ruth Brown at the programme’s closing event.
The KidsUP accelerator will be repeated in Sheffield later this year.
KidsUP has been delivered by London-based accelerator specialists UP Ventures working in partnership with Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Paediatrics and Child Health, where participants were mentored by clinicians to test and trial their ideas. The project was backed by Leeds and Edinburgh-based venture capitalist firm Par Equity, which seeks to invest in high-growth innovative tech companies across the north. It was funded by South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA), Sheffield City Council and Brabners Solicitors.
This accelerator has been delivered in parallel with the National Centre for Child Health Technology (NCCHT) – a dedicated research, development and collaboration hub being developed by Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust at Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park.
Less than five percent of all medical research funding in the UK is allocated to paediatric research and child health technology development. Kids often have adult designs applied to them with no attention paid to their different needs. KidsUP aims to address that.
The programme ended with a showcase event at which the innovators pitched their ideas to NHS partners and venture capitalists.
