Swansea University Medical School is a top 3 UK Medical School and is committed to ensuring the research, innovation and expertise within the School is used to prevent ill health, develop better treatments and be at the forefront of new technologies which can be used to improve care in the NHS. The School is currently leading a technology project that will help speed up health innovation in Wales and businesses are encouraged to be a part of it.
The Healthcare Technology Centre (HTC) is based in new laboratory space on the Singleton Campus and its team of dedicated staff are working in collaboration with businesses and the NHS to develop new, innovative healthcare products and services to create lasting economic value in Wales.
The HTC project is bringing together the NHS, businesses and researchers to build on Swansea’s research strengths in Biosensors and Devices, Bio-Informatics and Bio-Analytics. Opportunities requiring technology development will be progressed in partnership with private sector, HEIs and other key stakeholders.
HTC project lead Dr Naomi Joyce said:
“The project is looking to work with industry on collaborative innovation projects – we can offer access to state-of-the-art equipment facilities and an in-house delivery team of innovation technologists with backgrounds in both academia and industry. The project can also contribute towards the costs of projects.
Professor Keith Lloyd, Head of the Medical School said:
“Our HTC provides state-of-the-art facilities and equipment as well as academic expertise to support collaborative projects to drive research and innovation to improve healthcare in Wales and indeed the rest of the world.”
HTC is part of the £24 million Accelerate programme. Supported by the Welsh Government and European funding, Accelerate will run over 3 years and will speed up innovation in health technology in Wales. The programme is led by the Life Sciences Hub Wales and is drawing on the expertise and capabilities of Swansea University, Cardiff University and University of Wales Trinity St David to develop new, innovative healthcare products and services, which will help boost the economy and could create hundreds of new high-quality jobs.
Sustainability at heart
Laboratories are extremely energy/material intensive, and yet remain one of the more challenging areas to achieve sustainability. It is estimated laboratory research buildings use 5-10 times more energy per square meter than typical academic areas.
So, as part of their effort to support businesses based in Wales the HTC team is currently working towards a Bronze LEAF (Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework) Award.
LEAF enables teams to monitor and improve the sustainability of laboratories via an electronic workbook with a set of environmental and good practice criteria.
The award focuses on areas such as procurement and waste, equipment, ventilation, samples and chemicals, people, and research quality.
A key feature is that it allows teams to quantify savings, in pounds and carbon. This data is generated to facilitate further improvements all around – for users to share with their colleagues, for sustainability managers to share with senior management, and for the laboratory sustainability sector to baseline itself.
Dr Joyce said:
“The Healthcare Technology Centre is passionately working to challenge the norm and make improvements where possible. To contribute to the University and global ambitions to create a sustainable future, we are working towards achieving LEAF Bronze Award.
“We are actively working on reducing our energy consumption and making positive changes to become a more sustainable and eco-friendly laboratory environment.”
“The goal is to evidence the laboratory sustainability impact and to show that local efforts do make a difference.”
Professor Keith Lloyd, Head of the Medical School said:
“Swansea University Medical School is committed to improving sustainability throughout its practices.
If you are interested in learning more about the Healthcare Technology Centre and how your business could work with the project or have a collaborative research project idea that you would like to develop alongside us please get in touch