The Innovation and Knowledge Centre in Regenerative Therapies and Devices will provide a sustainable regional and international platform to address the creation of new technologies in Regenerative Therapies and Devices and their accelerated adoption within a complex global market place with increasing cost constraints. Therapies and devices which facilitate the regeneration of body tissues offer the potential to revolutionise healthcare and be a catalyst for economic growth, creating a new business sector within healthcare technology (Foresight Healthcare 2020). This centre is focused on emerging novel technologies in biological scaffolds, nano-biomaterials and self assembling peptides. These hybrid technologies utilise novel physical and biological functionality to enhance and accelerate the regeneration of tissues by harnessing the potential of endogenous stem cells in vivo. These novel technologies will also provide a vehicle for the delivery of exogenous stem cells to patients in the future and can be used to generate neo-tissues in vitro. The delivery of these emerging technologies to patients will be accelerated by improved diagnostics and imaging for enhanced patient targeting and by new complex simulation methodologies (patient in the lab) for improved short term predictions of the long term clinical outcomes. The life expectancy and average age of the population continues to increase as a result of advances in biomedicine and healthcare and this is generating additional social and economic burden. The Regenerative Technologies and Devices IKC will address the needs and quality of life of the ageing population, and address their expectations of an active lifestyle for fifty more years after fifty . It will specifically, but not exclusively, focus on areas of clinical need in musculoskeletal disease, dentistry, cardiovascular disease and cancer, which have been strategically prioritised by the University and the Leeds Hospitals Trust. The centre will build upon and develop substantial clinical, academic and industry partnerships. Additional new collaborative funding of over 58 million has already been confirmed to match the IKC award, and the centre has plans which have identified research and innovation funding in this area of over 100 million during the initial five year period of its activities.This rapidly growing multidisciplinary area will require innovative scientists and engineers who can cross disciplinary boundaries, work in broader systems based projects and work flexibly and collaboratively with industry and clinicians at different stages of the innovation pipeline. The centre and its partners will develop new and different approaches to innovation at an early stage of the innovation cycle, to substantially accelerate innovation, shorten the time period to clinical trials and market, and mitigate technology risks associated with this emergent sector. Collaborators in the Leeds University Business School will develop and evaluate open innovation methodologies. The University of Leeds is ideally placed to take advantage of this EPSRC call for four important reasons. First it has considerable competency in technology and science, as well as capabilities in managing collaborative innovation and entrepreneurship. Second it has the capability to both manage facilitate and create accelerated innovation in emerging healthcare technologies. Third the University already has excellent facilities and a track record (WRHIP) for innovation and is working with Yorkshire Forward to establish an Innovation Hub in Healthcare Technologies. Fourth the strategic partnership with the Clinical Trials Research Unit and the Unit of Health Economics will enable transition into NHS practice.

The aim of this place based impact acceleration account (PBIAA) is to support the translation of University research in medical technologies into new clinical products and services. There is a vibrant Medical Technology (MedTech) business cluster in the Yorkshire region, with over 200 companies employing more than 16,000 people, mostly in high value technical roles. The Universities of Leeds and Sheffield have strong track records in engineering and physical sciences research related to MedTech, particularly in areas that mirror the local business strengths (e.g. orthopaedics, dental, implantable devices and surgical technologies). While there is clear synergy between University research strengths and the business prominence in the region, there is currently a gap in the innovation funding pathway that is preventing technology innovations developed at the region's universities from being adopted by local companies. The aim of this PBIAA is to provide support to bridge this gap and build the connections between the academic, industrial and clinical assets in the region that will help grow the regional economy. It is particularly timely because the MedTech sector is transforming and there is increasing integration of new technologies into products and services. There are growing numbers of high-growth, high-innovation MedTech companies in the region with an absorptive capacity to benefit from this PBIAA, but we will also proactively engage with established companies that need to adopt new innovations to address the changing markets. We have worked with civic partners including the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, NHS Trusts through the Leeds and Sheffield Biomedical Research Centres, local industry, investors and innovation support organisations to develop this proposal and shape the activities to most effectively enable impact to be realised from the region's engineering and physical sciences research base. Commercialisation of innovations in the MedTech sector is challenging due to the regulatory barriers for products intended for use in humans, with evidence from extensive pre-clinical testing required to demonstrate the safety and efficacy. The PBIAA will fund Impact Projects that aim to generate evidence to derisk a technology, both to prove the technical concept is effective and to demonstrate that it is a commercially attractive proposition. A stage-gated approach will be used to encourage higher risk in the early stages and fast failure. These projects will act as exemplars to encourage further business engagement and outcomes will form a portfolio of evidence to inform future activities. The PBIAA will also support activities to build the regional innovation environment. These include a suite of training activities and events that raise understanding of technical advances and translational processes in the MedTech sector, and act to bring together academic, clinical and industrial partners to help build a lasting innovation community. The PBIAA will support events to identify clinical needs, two-way secondments, as well as public and patient engagement activities that aim to improve understanding of needs across the diverse regional population. A dedicated collaboration fund will be used to support impact activities at universities across the region, nurturing the wider regional strengths in this sector, and draw on wider collaborations that utilise the full strengths of the UK research base. The PBIAA will provide regional industry with a vital connection to state-of-the-art research, enabling a sustainable regional research-derived product development pipeline. It will help drive regional economic growth, with new innovations being adopted by regional industry, creating high value jobs and unlocking private sector investment in R&D, supporting a £3bn/year industry beyond 2035.