Dr Katherine Boylan
Director of Innovation, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust
Manchester hospital aims to be the UK’s leading NHS trust for innovation and the healthcare innovation partner of choice for industry.
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) is one of the largest and most specialist NHS providers in England, delivering hospital and community services to almost one million people.
Innovation at MFT has multiple touchpoints with industry, and activity relies on partnership with the commercial sector — from licensing opportunities for home-grown intellectual property by supporting our industry partners’ evidence needs and working hand in glove to introduce technologies into routine use.
Europe’s largest clinical academic campus
MFT is home to Europe’s largest clinical academic campus, delivered through a first-of-its-kind joint venture with a commercial partner, harnessing the power of place to serve the needs of local companies (large and small) and the Trust.
We know the key factors for success when developing meaningful cross-sector relationships, learnt though both very successful and less successful collaborations, but all informing our learning. Essential to everything is identifying the right partner — a company that shares our beliefs and values but also provides a solution that aligns with a local need or challenge. Proactive demand signalling rather than reacting to incoming approaches is key.
With the right partnerships, the potential mutual wins will be evident upfront and driven by a joint desire to deliver benefit for both sides. This might be financial (NHS), commercial (company) or reputational (both), and it’s short-sighted to consider only economic benefits.
Proactive demand signalling rather than reacting to incoming approaches is key
Use case: Medtronic and MFT
In a partnership formalised through a strategic agreement in 2025, colleagues from MFT and Medtronic meet in monthly touchpoints that identify, progress and monitor ongoing collaborative projects.
In one example, we’ve undertaken a project evaluating the Medtronic/Corsano wearable device for monitoring of immunocompromised patients — work to expand it into other use cases is ongoing. Key to the success is the alignment between the MFT’s population needs and the strategic driver to deliver technology-enabled care, and Medtronic’s corporate mission of supporting health through innovative biomedical engineering. In the wearables example, the alignment with UK Government policy around the “big bet” technologies is a win-win!
