Alumni updates

Three alumni from Cohort 2 of the MedTech Venture Builder have recently secured significant funding to help drive their ventures forward.

BeCertain has raised £1.7 million in pre-seed funding to accelerate their mission to bring trustworthy, clinical-grade AI to dental diagnostics. The investment round was led by SVV (Sure Valley Ventures) and supported by Innovate UK’s Investor Partnership Growth Catalyst programme.

Impli has been selected for the SPRIND - Bundesagentur für Sprunginnovationen Continuous Hormone Monitoring Challenge, with up to €6 million in non-dilutive funding over three years. The programme will help drive Impli’s continuous hormone monitoring platform to its next stage in polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS), where continuous data streams could resolve some of the toughest challenges in hormone health.

EarSwitch has secured investment from South East Angels. EarSwitch are transforming how we monitor and diagnose health through in-ear innovations.

Congratulations to all our alumni ventures!

Celebrating Cohort 2 at MedTech Venture Demo Day

We recently celebrated Cohort 2 completing 12 months on the MedTech Venture Builder programme. Founders pitched to a room of innovators, industry leaders and investors, showcasing ventures tackling real-world challenges across women’s health, cancer, dentistry, wound care and imaging.

The day also brought together previous cohorts from our MedTech programmes, with 23 demos across all floors of LIHE – a brilliant snapshot of the innovation happening here, from early-stage concepts to investment-ready technologies moving towards clinical adoption.

Read more

MedTech Venture Builder Cohort 3 bootcamp

We kicked off Cohort 3 of the MedTech Venture Builder with a two-day bootcamp, including lightning pitches from the 11 ventures, roundtables with our experts and a session on venture benchmarking delivered by Sam Dods and Uday Phadke from Triple Chasm.

The bootcamp ended with LIHE Venture Demo Day, where Cohort 3 got to see first-hand the progress made by Cohort 2 and other ventures that have taken part in LIHE programmes, offering a glimpse of where their own journey could lead.

Over the next 12 months, the ventures will work with our experts to de-risk and accelerate the commercial readiness of their medical devices.

Read more

King’s MedTech Accelerator Cohort 3 bootcamp

Earlier this month, we welcomed our third cohort of King’s MedTech Accelerator innovators from across King’s College London, King’s Health Partners, NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Brain Health and The Royal College of Surgeons of England, all set to turn their research into real-world healthcare impact.

Cohort 3 completed a three-day bootcamp at LIHE, including workshops, a panel discussion and talks from founders. Over the next six months, they will take part in masterclasses covering health technology assessment, regulations and pitching, to name a few.

Find out more

LIHE team kicks off J-StarX UK HealthTech Launchpad in Tokyo

LIHE is partnering with the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), with the support of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), to launch a new programme called the J-StarX UK HealthTech Launchpad.

The programme supports Japan-based MedTech and digital health startups as they expand into the UK and European markets. To mark the start of Phase 1, members of the LIHE team travelled to Tokyo for the programme’s bootcamp, where they held expert roundtables and strategic planning sessions, helping each startup define its priorities for UK market entry.

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Secretary of State announces charter at LIHE to support women in research

This month we were proud to welcome Liz Kendall MP, the then Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, to LIHE to announce a new charter to support women in research.

During the visit, Research Translation & Innovation Manager Antoinette Cameron-Pimblett and Head of Clinical Translation & Governance Valentina Vitiello led a tour of the building, showcasing our facilities and the ecosystem in which clinicians, engineers and entrepreneurs work together to translate research into clinical impact.

The Secretary of State was also given a demonstration of Fraiya Ultrasound, a King’s spinout based at LIHE with an AI tool for fetal anomaly scans.

Watch the video here

Join our ecosystem

At LIHE, we are dedicated to helping bring MedTech innovations to life with real benefits to clinicians and patients. We are already home to corporate partners such as Siemens Healthineers and NVIDIA, and startups and spinouts such Fraiya, Hypervision Surgical and XRLabs, and now we are opening our doors even wider with our membership packages.

The packages give members flexible access to our facilities and MedTech ecosystem, including hotdesking, room booking and events. Whether you need a touchdown space for an afternoon, a few days a week or full-time access, you’ll be working alongside others navigating the MedTech landscape.

Find out more by contacting lihe.ops@kcl.ac.uk

King’s increases founder equity stakes in spinouts

King’s College London has announced a new founder-friendly equity framework for university spinouts, increasing the ownership stake retained by academic founders at formation to between 85% and 100%. The university’s share will now vary according to the type of intellectual property underpinning the venture, aligning with sector best practice. The change aims to attract entrepreneurial talent, increase investor confidence and help innovations reach patients and communities faster.

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Who owns healthtech innovation?

Healthcare delivery belongs in hospitals and community practices. But healthtech innovation happens in a messy interplay between academic institutions, NHS trusts, tech transfer offices, funding bodies, accelerators, VC funds and the people who decide what actually gets adopted. The pathway is confusing – and for most clinicians, invisible. So brilliant ideas stall.

Join LIHE and the Royal College of Surgeons of England’s Innovation Hub for a day that follows healthtech innovation through its whole life – from first spark to NHS adoption – putting one question on trial at every stage: whose job is it to carry it forward?

Tuesday 15 September, 10am-4pm at the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Register here – LIHE affiliates get a discounted rate

LIHE Membership packages launch

At LIHE, we are dedicated to helping bring MedTech innovations to life with real benefits to clinicians and patients. We are already home to companies and spinouts including Siemens Healthineers, NVIDIA, Fraiya and Hypervision Surgical, and now, we are opening our doors even wider with our new membership packages.

The packages give members flexible access to our facilities and ecosystem of MedTech entrepreneurs, including hotdesking, onsite reception and security, printing, room booking, and events (depending on package). Whether you need a touchdown space for an afternoon, a few days a week, or full-time access, you’ll be working alongside others navigating the realities of building a MedTech venture.

Find out more by contacting lihe.ops@kcl.ac.uk

Proposed changes to medical device regulations in the UK

The UK’s draft Medical Devices (Amendment) Regulations 2026, recently published via the World Trade Organization, mark a key step in modernising the national regulatory framework. The proposals introduce enhanced pre-market requirements for medical devices in Great Britain, aiming to strengthen patient safety while supporting innovation.

Changes are expected to include updated conformity assessment pathways, increased scrutiny for higher-risk devices, and clearer evidence requirements for market approval. The reforms also seek to align, where appropriate, with international standards while maintaining UK regulatory autonomy.

Adoption is anticipated in December 2026, followed by a phased implementation period to allow manufacturers and stakeholders time to prepare for compliance with the new arrangements.

You can read a summary of the changes here.

New MedTech Venture Builder cohort announced

After a highly competitive process, we are pleased to announce 11 ventures have been selected for the third cohort of the MedTech Venture Builder. Congratulations to Joyvié Health Ltd, Slippery Saints, Omnilabs Research, Revive Innovations +, Mentalio, Pacora (Patient Controlled Oral Analgesia), NOMW Health, Veren Surgical, Eye2Gene, Arcus Imaging and Kavi Nova.

This diverse cohort is addressing some of the most pressing challenges in healthcare, with innovations ranging from a rapid, single-use haemorrhage autoinjector to digital mental health solutions, overdose-detecting wearables and at-home dental imaging technologies. We look forward to supporting their progress over the next 12 months, as they develop impactful, scalable solutions for patients and healthcare systems.

New King’s MedTech Accelerator cohort announced

We are delighted to welcome the third cohort of the King’s MedTech Accelerator, with 25 projects across King’s College London, King’s Health Partners, NIHR HRC Brain Health and the Royal College of Surgeons. Innovations range from surgical devices to wearable monitoring and AI-powered diagnostics, tackling conditions from neonatal care to Alzheimer’s disease.

Over the next six months, participants will take part in expert-led masterclasses on IP, regulatory pathways, healthcare economics, market access and investor readiness, alongside 1:1 mentorship. Previous cohorts have progressed to translational grants, patent filings and spinout-formation.

Read more

Alumni updates

ScubaTx and PeriPear from our MedTech Venture Kickstarter programme were both named winners of the ClimbUK National Innovation Competition, sponsored by Barclays UK Innovation Banking. ScubaTx is developing a novel organ preservation device, while PeriPear is developing a wearable device that reduces the risk of tearing during childbirth. PeriPear also took first place at the NatWest Accelerator Pitch Oxford final earlier this month, winning £70,000 in grant funding.

Cardiovolt.ai, from our MedTech Venture Kickstarter programme, has raised £1.4m in pre-seed funding to commercialise AI models that extract diagnostic insights from standard ECG traces, detecting hidden heart conditions and predicting patient risk from a routine ten-second heart trace. The round was led by Twin Path Ventures, with backing from the Pioneer Group.

Neubond, from our MedTech Venture Builder programme, has raised £1.5m in seed funding to bring their wearable stroke rehabilitation platform to patients, with a 30% improvement in range of motion shown in an initial pilot. The round was led by Tokyo-based deep tech investor WASEDA University Ventures with participation from SFC Capital and New Wave Ventures. This marks WASEDA University Ventures' first-ever investment in a UK startup.

Congratulations to all our alumni ventures!

Women at Scale: inaugural think-tank

Last week, we proudly hosted the inaugural Women at Scale event - a new, collaborative initiative from LIHE and our industry partners at Siemens Healthineers, aimed at building a women-focused community spanning innovation and leadership in MedTech. The think-tank brought together professionals from startups, industry, academia and clinical care for an afternoon of honest conversation and shared ambition.

Highlights included:

• How LIHE’s ecosystem helps women-led MedTech ventures move from bench to bedside.

• How Siemens Healthineers is advancing female representation and leadership through its #StepUp network.

• A panel on women in MedTech - leading diverse teams, women-centred innovation and community co-creation - featuring SONA’s Jane Ollis, LIHE’s Valentina Vitiello, Ana Raduc and Siemens Healthineers’ Gill Coughlan.

Thank you to everyone who joined us, and to our organising committee – Antoinette Cameron-Pimblett, Jane Ollis and Giulia Ginami – for bringing this initiative to life. This is just the beginning: Women at Scale will continue to convene our community and turn ambition into action.

Hypervision Surgical, a pioneer in real-time hyperspectral imaging for surgery, has announced the closure of its Series A financing round after successfully raising £17 million to progress its UK-certified and FDA-cleared HYPERSNAP® system.

Led by Heal Capital with participation from Angelini Ventures, IP Group and Daycrest, the round also includes follow-on investment from HEARN Partners, Redalphine, LifeX Ventures and ZEISS Ventures, as well as strategic investment from SAGES Ingenuity – the for-profit innovation arm of the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) and Macmillan Cancer Support, the UK’s leading cancer charity.

A King’s spinout working as part of the LIHE and St Thomas’ MedTech ecosystem, Hypervision was founded by Dr Michael Ebner, a King’s post-doctoral researcher at the time, Tom Vercauteren, Professor of Interventional Image Computing, Jonathan Shapey, Clinical Reader and Professor Sebastien Ourselin FREng FMedSci, Head of School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences.

The company will use the funding to accelerate commercial deployment and expand clinical adoption of its next-generation hyperspectral sensing technologies.

Read more

Fraiya launches study into AI-assisted ultrasound scans

King’s spinout and LIHE resident Fraiya has launched The FRAIYA Study to determine whether AI can make routine pregnancy scans safer, faster and more reliable for thousands of women across the UK.

By helping sonographers capture images and measurements more quickly and consistently, Fraiya’s tools remove the manual burden of 20-week anomaly scans, so the sonographer can focus more on the patient.

Funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the randomised controlled trial will recruit over 9,000 participants across four NHS Trusts. Alongside clinical outcomes, the study will also assess how cost-effective the AI tools are for the NHS.

The FRAIYA Study was launched at an event at LIHE, and the team have already begun recruiting and scanning the first participants.

Read more

Women at Scale: Inaugural Think-Tank

Women at Scale is our new initiative aimed at establishing a women-focused community spanning innovation and leadership, with LIHE as a convening hub.

Women at Scale brings together our community to connect, share experiences and drive innovation and leadership. It also highlights expertise shaping solutions for unmet needs in women’s health and beyond. It will bring together professionals from startups, industry, academia, and clinical care to discuss trajectories, barriers, and trade-offs involved in scaling impact. Delivered together with our partners at Siemens Healthineers, this initiative builds on a shared commitment to diversity and inclusion.

During this inaugural think-tank, we will hear the perspectives of women in MedTech and healthcare and those working alongside them, before turning the focus to you. We’ll be asking you, our community, what would help you take the next leap and help us shape future women-focused programmes at LIHE.

Please contact Antoinette Cameron-Pimblett if you are interested in attending.

LIHE Clinical Innovation Breakfast

Last month, we hosted a Clinical Innovation Breakfast at the London Institute for Healthcare Engineering (LIHE). We brought together healthcare professionals and clinical academics from across King’s Health Partners interested in MedTech innovation.

The session was a great opportunity to share insights into LIHE’s MedTech programmes, hear from clinical founders who have participated in the Venture Builder and Accelerator programmes, and connect with others interested in healthcare innovation. A key highlight was the interactive workshop, where participants shared their perspectives on how clinicians might meaningfully engage with LIHE, what support would be most valuable, and how barriers to participation can be addressed.

We received a wide range of valuable suggestions from attendees. These included opportunities for MedTech education and training, greater ideation support to help work through clinical challenges with academic and industry partners, and the importance of creating more structured networking opportunities. Participants also highlighted the potential for LIHE to be a convening space for clinicians and innovators to support awareness and engagement.

Across the discussions, there was strong alignment on the importance of creating clear and accessible pathways for engagement and designing opportunities that are time‑efficient and clinically relevant. We are grateful to all attendees for their valuable insights, which will directly inform how LIHE evolves its approach to clinician engagement and innovation support.

If you are a clinician interested in finding out more about opportunities to get involved, please contact Manori Dharmasena, Clinical Innovation Associate at LIHE.

LIHE Breakfast with Public Policy Projects

We also hosted our first LIHE Breakfast with Public Policy Projects, themed around technology as the foundation of NHS reinvention. Senior figures across policy, research, industry and clinical practice came together to discuss why the health service struggles to adopt proven innovation at scale. Read the report here, and keep your eyes peeled for future editions!

Stay tuned…

…for more news, including an introduction to our new MedTech Accelerator and Venture Builder cohorts, in our June edition.

MedTech Venture Kickstarter – one of four Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst Accelerator themes run by the London Institute for Healthcare Engineering

We are pleased to announce a new programme – the Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst Accelerator MedTech Venture Kickstarter.

The Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst Accelerator – Late Stage Accelerating FemTech and MedTech Venture Kickstarter, funded by Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst, is a pilot later-stage accelerator that will be delivered between August 2025 to February 2026.

It has two themes: Accelerating FemTech: Evaluate and MedTech Venture Kickstarter. The accelerator was awarded to the Health Innovation Network South London, with delivery of the MedTech Venture Kickstarter (MVK) sub-contracted to London Institute for Healthcare Engineering (LIHE).

The MedTech Venture Kickstarter is a 4-month focussed programme designed explicitly to provide ventures the commercial resilience to enter the market, through access to the UK’s leading MedTech ecosystem, mentorship from our Experts-in-Residence and support from LIHEs expert translation teams.

The programme is FREE for all ventures selected through a highly competitive application process. We welcome companies from across the UK to apply and join our unique ecosystem.

Apply with your venture here.

Application deadline: Monday, 29 September, 12.00

Join one of our in-person or virtual sessions to learn more about the MVK programme

• IUK Biomedical Catalyst Roadshow – Tuesday, 9 September,11.00–13.30 at LIHE. Register here.

• LIHE MedTech Venture Kickstarter Application Info Session – Monday, 22 September, 2pm (virtual). Register here.

Learn more and apply

Accelerating FemTech: Evaluate – one of four Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst Accelerator themes run by the Health Innovation Network South London

Innovate UK Biocatalyst Accelerator Accelerating FemTech: Evaluate

Applications are now also open for Accelerating FemTech: Evaluate, a new Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst Accelerator supporting innovations in women’s health.

Delivered by the Health Innovation Network South London with national partners and funded by Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst, this hybrid 10-week programme is designed for innovators across the UK with technology readiness level (TRL) 4+ solutions for women’s health. These innovations should have the potential to address current challenges in women's health and other conditions that affect women differently or disproportionally.

The programme enables growth through tailored support, helping to identify strategic collaborations and pathways for real-world evaluation, such as cost effectiveness. Participants will benefit from expert-led workshops, business coaching, mentoring, peer-learning and networking opportunities with stakeholders from across the healthcare system. Its all about supporting innovators to make a real impact in women’s health.

Apply by 11:59 pm on Sunday 28 September: Accelerating FemTech: Evaluate - Health Innovation Hub

Sign up to the 101 webinar on Wednesday 17 September to learn more and ask questions to the programme delivery team: Accelerating FemTech: Evaluate 101 Webinar Tickets, Wed, Sep 17, 2025 at 12:00 PM | Eventbrite

LIHE membership packages launch

London Institute for Engineering (LIHE) – modern co-working spaces among a community of MedTech venture builders

At the London Institute for Healthcare Engineering (LIHE) we’re dedicated to helping individuals and ventures bring their MedTech innovations to life with real benefits to healthcare clinicians, practitioners – and primarily, patients. We’re already home to companies and spinouts including Siemens Healthineers, NVIDIA, Fraiya, Hypervision and more, and now, we’re opening our doors even wider to the medical device ventures community with our new membership packages.

Designed to expand access to our state-of-the-art facilities, the packages offer a way of connecting with and co-working within LIHE’s ecosystem of entrepreneurs and ventures. LIHE membership options provide a variety of benefits including:

• Access to our first-floor hotdesking spaces

• WiFi

• Onsite reception and security

• Tea and coffee

• Printing services

• Booking system access

• Events (depending on membership package)

Opened in 2024, our spaces offer the very latest facilities for co-working and collaboration – whether you are visiting London for a morning meeting and in need of a touch down space for the afternoon, a more regular visitor over a few days per week or looking for more full-time access. Whatever your preference, importantly, you will work alongside likeminded people – those navigating the ups and downs of commercialising their medical devices.

Find out more about our options and how to access LIHE by contacting lihe.ops@kcl.ac.uk

Important Regulatory Update – MHRA Clinical Investigation Guidance

The MHRA has updated its clinical investigation flow chart and released new accompanying guidance. This flowchart clarifies when a clinical investigation is required for studies involving medical devices in the UK.

Key updates include:

• Early-stage human studies: Studies using non-CE/UKCA marked devices intended to support the development of a medical device, such as data collection or formative usability evaluations, will no longer require a clinical investigation, even if the devices are patient-contacting or deliver a placebo or energy.

• Comparator studies: Any safety and performance comparison studies, regardless of whether the results are intended to inform clinical decisions during the study, will now require a clinical investigation.

If you are planning a basic science or clinical investigation study involving your device, we recommend reviewing this guidance promptly.

If you are unsure whether your planned study qualifies as a clinical investigation:

• Current members of LIHE programmes: Contact the Quality and Regulatory Team at cme-quality@kcl.ac.uk for guidance.

• Non-members or if further assistance is needed: Submit an annotated copy of the flowchart, showing and explaining your decision pathway, to info@mhra.gov.uk with the subject line: [Company Name] – Is a Clinical Investigation Required?.

• Additionally, please provide details of:

  • Who is conducting the proposed study;

  • Who has manufactured the device;

  • What the intended purpose of the device is;

  • Whether any medical application is foreseen for the device; and

  • A copy of the study protocol where possible.

LIHE recognised with awards for commercial collaboration and healthcare design

Life Sciences and Research Clusters Awards 2025 Best Research and Commercial Collaboration winner – King’s College London and Siemens Healthineers

We are pleased to announce that since the beginning of the year, LIHE has won three important awards.

Life Sciences and Research Clusters Awards 2025
Best Research & Commercial Collaboration – King’s College London and Siemens Healthineers

This award celebrates over ten years of strategic partnership, bringing together world-class academic research and MedTech innovation.

Scottish Healthcare Design Awards 2025
Silver Award for Health Building or Project

LIHE has been recognised for its architectural ambition and healthcare-driven design. This Silver Award highlights the innovative facility at the heart of our mission.

European Healthcare Design Awards 2025
Best Project – Life Sciences

Selected from a competitive international shortlist, LIHE's win reflects our leadership in advancing translational research and engineering for health.

Recent events held at LIHE

Summer events at LIHE (L-R) – NHS CEP Pit Stop 1, MedTech Super Connector and MedTech bootcamps

It’s been a busy July for LIHE. We welcomed our newest programme cohorts with intensive, three-day MedTech Venture Builder and MedTech Accelerator bootcamps. Both provided an opportunity for participants to connect with LIHE’s ecosystem and learn what it takes for their ventures to succeed.

We were also delighted to host Coulter Partners’ MedTech Super Connector. Part of London Tech Week, the exclusive event provided a dedicated space for start-ups, scale-ups, pharma, MedTech digital innovators, investors, the NHS, and healthcare providers to connect, collaborate and share their experiences.

Finally, we also enjoyed hosting the NHS CEP’s first Pit Stop. Focused on ‘starting up’, day one provided a chance for CEP entrepreneurs to meet with NHS, industry and third sector people to help guide their innovation journeys. On day two LIHE teams provided an overview of our ecosystem and how we can help them advance their medical technologies.

Are you a high-potential MedTech innovator looking to accelerate your journey from concept to investment-ready venture? The MedTech Venture Builder is a unique 12-month structured programme designed to fast-track the commercial translation of groundbreaking medical technologies.

Now in its second year, the MedTech Venture Builder provides a comprehensive framework to de-risk your company, including regulatory planning, clinical evidence roadmaps, stakeholder mapping, and hands-on expert support—all within a fit-for-purpose Quality Management System (QMS).

Through expert mentorship, hands-on guidance, and real-world industry connections, the MedTech Venture Builder, delivered by LIHE, helps innovators turn promising ideas into market-ready ventures.

Missed our open day or want more information on applying?

Attend our MedTech Venture Builder Online Drop-in Session on the 16th of April and submit your application by 30th April.

Learn more & apply

neuRealities joins LIHE

We are excited to announce that the expert team at neuRealities have just taken up residence at LIHE.

NeuRealities are changing how the world develops the next-generation healthcare workforce by democratising knowledge for anyone, on any device, anywhere. Their technology can create AI-powered XR, Mobile & Desktop applications in minutes with your data.

LIHE unlocks growth sector careers for young Londoners

A pioneering work experience project, My Life SC1ence, is helping make jobs in London’s life sciences and MedTech sector more accessible and understandable for the next generation of young talent. This high growth sector encompasses industries dedicated to the science of all living things, extending from biology and genetics to healthcare and medical devices.

The doors of LIHE opened to local school pupils and young people not in education, employment or training from London’s underserved communities.

The two groups joined a month-long work experience programme run by youth engagement experts We Rise supported by Lambeth Council. Working with technicians, academics, students and entrepreneurs from LIHE, King’s School of Biomedical & Engineering & Imaging Sciences and St Thomas’ Hospital, the young people developed, scripted and filmed videos and social media content to demystify jobs and break down barriers to life sciences opportunities.

Read more

MedTech Venture Builder participants Fraiya roll out new AI tool

AI could help sonographers identify any abnormalities at the 20-week pregnancy screening scan almost twice as quickly, without reducing the accuracy or reliability of diagnoses, a new study has shown.

Published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), the study showed that the AI-assisted scans – which automatically took several thousand snapshots of each foetal measurement compared to three taken by a human sonographer – were more reliable compared to manual measurements.

Fraiya, a spin-out from King's and our clinical partners that developed the AI tool, is rolling it out across clinical sites. Fraiya is a participant in LIHE's MedTech Venture Builder programme.

Read more

Are you a high-potential MedTech innovator looking to accelerate your journey from concept to investment-ready venture? The MedTech Venture Builder is a unique 12-month structured programme designed to fast-track the commercial translation of groundbreaking medical technologies.

Now in its second year, the MedTech Venture Builder provides a comprehensive framework to de-risk your company, including regulatory planning, clinical evidence roadmaps, stakeholder mapping, and hands-on expert support—all within a fit-for-purpose Quality Management System (QMS).

Join us for an in-person Application Info Session on Wednesday 26 March to gain a deeper understanding of how the MedTech Venture Builder programme can support your venture.

REGISTER NOW

Through expert mentorship, hands-on guidance, and real-world industry connections, the MedTech Venture Builder, delivered by LIHE, helps innovators turn promising ideas into market-ready ventures.

Thomas Vargoczky, CEO of Pryfiber, a spinout from Queen Mary University of London, and a member of our ongoing MVB cohort shares his experience of the programme:

The MedTech Venture Builder is funded by Research England and is a collaborative effort between London’s leading academic institutions, King's College London (lead), Queen Mary University of London, and City St George’s, University of London.

“I honestly think the London Institute for Healthcare Engineering (LIHE) is one of, if not the best places for startups like us to be right now.”

- Ali Rezaei Haddad, CEO of XARlabs

XARLabs is developing cutting-edge technology for enhanced 3D surgical experiences and has recently taken up residence at LIHE. Ali shares his journey and the story of growing his team, including hiring School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences graduate Takrim Titas.

Read more

Inaugural King's MedTech Accelerator completes at LIHE

The inaugural King’s MedTech Accelerator (KMA) programme has completed its first iteration of supporting aspiring entrepreneurs from across King’s College London in medical technologies (MedTech) to grow their understanding of the translation path from bench-to-bedside-to-boardroom.

The translational output of the programme has been impressive, including securing 2 translational grants, 2 projects accepted to the Innovate UK ICURe Programme, 2 founding teams created, 5 potential spin-outs, 1 new IP patent filed, 1 active licencing deal in negotiation and more.

The programme was instrumental in catapulting our team’s device to detect extra-oesophageal reflux along it’s translational journey. Before the programme, we were a bit lost and did not know the next steps or how to approach industry or investors. This accelerator answered all the questions and opened up all the doors.

Dr Saoirse O’Toole, Clinical Lecturer in Prosthodontics & programme participant in process of spinning out

Read more

Register your interest for our 2025 King’s MedTech Accelerator

From 2025 the KMA will include specialist support for Digital Health innovation projects. The next iteration of the programme will also cater specifically to solutions with a strong digital element that treat, diagnose, or predict health outcomes. This may include software, analytics, wearables, or similar technologies.

The programme will expand further in its second year and be open to researchers and staff from King’s Health Partners.

Applications will open in the coming weeks, sign up now for an advance email alert when they open.

Register here

LIHE to host Radiology AI Summit 2025

The Radiology Al Summit (RAIS) is an exclusive annual event uniting industry-leading experts, academics, clinicians, and policy advocates for two days to collaborate on bringing forward Al into clinical and diagnostic settings.

200 selected leaders have been invited to surface and debate the most pressing issues in our space, from clinical validation, regulation and safety, to groundbreaking research and Real World Evidence, to practical application, and getting to true Return On Investment for AI-based solutions in clinical practice.

Read more

Apollo Radiology and Perspectum join LIHE

We are excited to welcome two new companies who have taken up residence at LIHE; Apollo Radiology International/InHealth and Perspectum Ltd.

Apollo Radiology International/In Health (ARI) is a global Radiology company and a part of the US$7.65 billion Apollo Hospitals Group. ARI is a leading provider of interpretative and clinical radiological services to a wide network of healthcare providers in India and around the world.

Perspectum is an innovative company in the field of precision health technology delivering advanced solutions to health care providers. Their best-in-class technology is noninvasive and generates clear and understandable reports aiding clinical decision-making as well as supporting patient engagement.

Reza Razavi is a Professor of Paediatric Cardiovascular Science at King’s College London, and a Paediatric Cardiologist at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. We spoke to him about his latest career pivot to becoming CEO of Fraiya Ltd, a King’s spin-out developing AI-enabled pregnancy ultrasound technologies, which is currently part of the Venture Builder programme at the London Institute for Healthcare Engineering (LIHE).

“LIHE is a fantastic environment for a new start-up with not only great space but with the Venture Builder great support in the many aspects of getting your company of the ground that would be hard to get on your own. This Includes quality management and regulatory support, clinical trials and health economic expertise, business planning and marketing help and assistance with external communications. All so valuable!”

- Professor Reza Razavi

Read the full story here.

Celebrating 10 years of innovation: Siemens Healthineers joins King's at LIHE

King’s College London celebrates the 10th anniversary of its partnership with Siemens Healthineers as the company takes residence at LIHE. This milestone marks a new chapter in their shared commitment to advancing healthcare innovation. By establishing a presence at LIHE, Siemens Healthineers aims to enhance their long-term research partnership and scale up co-creation activities on site and across the St Thomas' MedTech Hub.

Read the full story here.

How Ventures Can Stay Compliant with Regulations

Navigating the complex regulatory landscape of the MedTech industry is essential for ensuring product success and safety. Compliance not only avoids severe penalties but also fosters innovation and enhances product quality.

Read more about the importance of compliance and navigating the regulatory landscape.

LIHE resident company XARlabs’ mixed reality platform supports first-of-its kind surgery

XARlabs' pioneering mixed reality platform, simXAR, played a pivotal role in the successful separation of conjoined twins, performed by a surgical team from Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, in collaboration with a renowned Turkish hospital. This landmark surgery marks the first use of simXAR in such a complex medical procedure, demonstrating its immense potential in surgical planning and simulation.

Watch more here and read the full story here.

Wickenstones delivers a Venture Builder Masterclass

We were delighted to welcome Dr Eddie Gibson and the Wickenstones team to deliver a Venture Builder masterclass on Deal Making in MedTech. Our venture companies explored deal structures, recent trends in MedTech, identifying partners, compiling evidence packages and more, across a packed day of talks, workshops and networking.

You can read more about our MedTech Venture Builder here.

Co-design for Digital Health: free online course and methods library now live!     

The King’s Health Partners Digital Health Hub has launched a free online course and methods library to support anyone interested in using co-design to develop a digital health innovation. The course consists of 6 X 20 minute recorded sessions with follow-up questions and links to specific co-design methods in the library, and can be completed in your own time.

Access the course

Access the library

Register your interest for our MedTech Accelerator

The King's MedTech Accelerator is a 6-month, part-time programme for King's researchers and staff focused on transforming research innovations into viable healthcare ventures. 

The new programme will open for applications in early 2025, sign up now for an advance email alert when applications open.

Register your interest

Please note: this programme is only open to King’s staff and students.

In MedTech, most of the innovation is generated by smaller start-ups or university spinouts, while translation at scale is achieved by a few large companies with the resources to do so. Bringing both sides of this equation together is the key to creating positive impact. The London Institute for Healthcare Engineering (LIHE) was born out of this realisation and is an all-encompassing framework that can make this possible.

Unique in the UK, LIHE draws on King’s commitment to deliver world-class research and outstanding clinical services and provides this knowledge, access and training to young spinouts.

LIHE’s co-location within St Thomas’ Hospital is crucial. It allows our innovators to readily engage with clinicians and patients. Further, they can take advantage of the advanced research facilities we have developed within the hospital, and world-leading scientific, regulatory, market access, and commercialisation capabilities.

“We can be excited about a new piece of technology, but if this technology doesn't reach the patients that need it, it makes no difference. So fundamentally, there is only one metric we judge our efforts on, which is how many lives are touched by the technologies we have supported at LIHE.”

Professor Sebastien Ourselin FREng FMedSci, Director of LIHE and Head of School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences

Growing our community

LIHE is a unique institute for pioneering start-ups and SMEs that are advancing new medical technologies.

We believe that magic happens when people from key members of the healthcare community such as clinicians, academics, engineers and industry partners come together, and we are committed to not leaving these encounters to chance. This is why we have been organising and hosting dedicated events to bring together the MedTech community at LIHE, and also why we are constantly looking at expanding our team and attracting talent.

LIHE can call on such elements of our ecosystem as the King's Technology Evaluation Centre (KiTEC), the national facility for the Manufacture of Active Implants and Surgical Instruments (MAISI), the King’s Health Partners Digital Health Hub (KHP DHH) and a dedicated Quality Management Systems team to name but a few.

LIHE brings together like-minded individuals that want to contribute to accelerating positive impact to patients, bringing value to every one of our members with every meaningful interaction.

We have been excited to welcome industry leaders and burgeoning start-ups to take up residence in our building over the last 6 months. These include leading industry organisations such as NVIDIA, scaleups such as deepc, and start-ups and spinouts including Innersight Labs, Hypervision Surgical, and Fraiya.

Launching world-leading and UK-first programmes

The MedTech Venture Builder

We launched our ground-breaking MedTech Venture Builder programme, funded by Research England. In a UK-first, 12 companies were selected from our partners and from across the UK to join this intense programme. It provides the structures critical to building a robust MedTech company. The companies have been receiving hands-on executive support in developing regulatory plans, clinical evidence roadmaps and stakeholder mapping, all within a fit-for-purpose, medical-grade Quality Management System (QMS).

The MedTech Venture Builder is delivered at LIHE. It is a collaborative effort delivered by a consortium made up of four partner institutions, with King’s College London as the lead and working in partnership with Queen Mary University of London, City University of London, and St George’s University of London to create a Collaborative Centre of Excellence (CCoE) for Medical Device translation.

We are glad to report that the programme has already been attracting international attention. King’s College London has announced the signing of an agreement to become a member of the prestigious Mayo Clinic Innovation Exchange (MCIE) as their first UK-based collaborator.

The King’s MedTech Accelerator

We recently launched the first King's MedTech Accelerator programme, a 6-month, part-time programme for King's researchers and staff focused on transforming research innovations into viable healthcare ventures. The inaugural cohort includes members of 21 project teams developing novel medical technologies across four Faculties at King's.

The programme provides an acceleration stream with specialist support for aspiring entrepreneurs in medical devices, including medical software and AI. A key goal is to foster an entrepreneurial mindset in King's staff geared particularly towards overcoming the complexities of this challenging industry.

Training, connecting and celebrating innovators

LIHE is committed to hosting world-class healthcare and MedTed-specific events, giving our community the chance to meet and learn from leaders in the field.

Over the past 6 months, we have hosted an impressive 170 events at LIHE, with some highlights being:

NVIDIA 'AI in Healthcare' Meetups

The healthcare industry is digitally transforming, resulting in deep virtualisation and expansive AI adoption that lower costs, improve security, and enhance care. We have been delivering a series of events with NVIDIA at LIHE that explore key technologies that are accelerating this transformation.

Surgical & Interventional Challenges: Masterclass in Acute Pulmonary Embolism Management

The Surgical & Interventional Challenges are part of a running series of study days open to all clinical and surgical staff, interventionalists, undergraduate and postgraduate engineering and medical students, and educators.

For this study day, a multidisciplinary team of experts shared their experiences of current management and future trends in acute pulmonary embolism care.

Educating the next generation of MedTech Entrepreneurs

LIHE hosts the King’s MSc in MedTech Innovation & Entrepreneurship, embedding students within the vibrant MedTech ecosystem and providing students with unrivalled access to MedTech innovators, funds, and advisors.

Students are introduced to the entrepreneurial journey ahead of them, and can be assured that the teams within LIHE are there to support them as they pursue a career in MedTech innovation.

“What’s special about this programme is how the dots have been connected to bring together medicine, business, and engineering, all areas of excellence at King’s. There isn’t another programme that takes the same approach. It creates a link between the modules across these areas and unites experts to help ambitious minds look at the bigger picture of MedTech.”

Professor Prashant Jha, Professor of MedTech Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Contact our team or register your interest here.

We are looking for a talented Head of Ventures to join our team at the London Institute for Healthcare Engineering (LIHE)!

Are you an experienced startup operator with a background in creating and nurturing startup programs? Have you successfully managed a diverse ecosystem of mentors, investors, and founders? Do you possess a strong interest in MedTech or understand the challenges of commercialising DeepTech?

If this sounds like you, apply now.

Apply now!

Our mission at LIHE is to improve patient lives by accelerating MedTech innovations to patients and the market. We achieve this by building robust MedTech companies and offering hands-on executive support for medical innovations from across the UK.

We give MedTech entrepreneurs the confidence to proceed at pace from bench to bedside to boardroom.

Our only metric is how many patients the innovations we support positively impact because future patients deserve it.

Professor Sebastien Ourselin has been featured in the National Health Executive where he discusses fostering collaboration through co-location, creating a MedTech Hub and why we need the London Institute for Healthcare Engineering (LIHE).

“In MedTech, most of the innovation is generated by smaller start-ups or university spinouts, while translation at scale is achieved by a few large companies with the resources to do so. Bringing both sides of this equation together is the key to creating positive impact, and LIHE is an all-encompassing framework that can make this possible. It draws on King’s commitment to deliver world-class research and outstanding clinical services through partnership with our NHS Trust, and provides this knowledge and access to it’s members.”

Professor Sebastien Ourselin FREng FMedSci, Director of LIHE and Head of School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences

Read the full story in the National Health executive here.

MedTech Accelerator launches

We are pleased to announce that recent launch of the King’s MedTech Accelerator! We kicked off the programme with a 3-day bootcamp featuring a series of talks and workshops hosted by our team, in collaboration with staff from the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, industry partners, Science & Engineering Health Technologies Alliance (SEHTA) and LIHE's Experts in Residence.

The inaugural cohort for the Accelerator includes members of 21 project teams developing novel medical technologies across four Faculties at King's College London, and we look forward to supporting them over the next six months!

Read more.

LIHE hosts Mayo Clinic Innovation Exchange delegation

King’s College London has announced the signing of an agreement to become a member of the prestigious Mayo Clinic Innovation Exchange (MCIE) as their first UK-based collaborator. We kicked off the collaboration by hosting a delegation of entrepreneurial healthcare professionals from the MCIE to learn more about the UK ecosystem and explore areas of research collaboration.

Read more.

SEHTA Healthcare Business Awards

We were delighted to have hosted the 2024 Science & Engineering Health Technologies Alliance (SEHTA) Healthcare Business Awards at LIHE.

The annual awards was a spectacular showcase of the best collaborations between industry, academia, and the NHS across the South East of England, including Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, and the Isle of Wight, as well as London, Oxford, East of England, and Essex.

The awards ceremony provided a fantastic opportunity for the sector to come together and celebrate the achievements of life science companies in the region. Winners were automatically entered into the Medilink UK National Awards, which took place on 11th of July.

Read more.

Medilink UK National Healthcare Business Awards

Last week we had the pleasure of hosting the Medilink UK National Healthcare Business Awards ceremony. This year’s awards recognised numerous achievements and outstanding contributions to MedTech Life Sciences. The seven Medilink UK winners were selected from an exclusive shortlist, comprised entirely of winners from each of the regional Medilink awards.

Read more.

Tell us about your design support needs!

The King’s Health Partners Digital Health Hub is a new multi-disciplinary centre helping those interested in developing a digital health innovation from conception to implementation. The co-design support team (based at the London Institute for Healthcare Engineering) will be running a pilot programme of open workshops and one-to-one sessions on co-design methods and project planning from October 2024; to help them prioritise their offerings, they would like to hear from you about your co-design support needs and interests. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to email the team.

Please take a few moments to fill out this short survey. 

Prashant Jha is the Professor of MedTech Innovation and Entrepreneurship at King’s and has designed the new MSc in MedTech Innovation & Entrepreneurship hosted at LIHE. We spoke to Prashant about his journey from GP to engineer to entrepreneur, and how students can benefit from his 5D model for medical device development.

“I realised that by combining our areas of expertise, we have opportunities to personalise care, accommodating individuals and their constraints. Good design can go beyond creating effective solutions- it can also allow us to factor in patients’ beliefs and what they think is good for them rather than being prescriptive.”

- Professor Prashant Jha

Read the conversation here.

New Community and Events Officer joins LIHE

This month, we welcomed Precious Ezema into the LIHE team as our new Community and Events Officer. Precious has a background in marketing and has grown communities across Africa at companies such as Enyata Software Engineering, GOMYCODE, and Web3ladies, as well as vast experience in tech, blockchain, web3, and AI.

Precious was recently endorsed by the UK Home Office within the Global Talent Visa scheme for her expertise in community building and marketing. Following the UK Tech Nation report 2024, Precious ranks among the top 31% Nigerian and 21% African persons with exceptional talent who are part of the Tech Nation alumni network. She is committed to advocating for women in tech and regularly organises events and community programs to help them advance in their careers.

Professor Sebastien Ourselin appointed Director for Digital Health and Data Sciences at KHP

LIHE’s Director Professor Sebastien Ourselin has been appointed the Director for Digital Health and Data Sciences at King’s Health Partners (KHP). Professor Ourselin will lead the development and delivery of the KHP Digital Health and Data Sciences strategic priority and leads the KHP Digital Health Hub, bringing expertise together across the partnership to support the training, co-creation, translation, and acceleration of digital technologies.

Read more.

Applications close for the MedTech Venture Builder CCoE

Thank you to everyone who applied to be a part of the MedTech Venture Builder. We are pleased to have received a tremendous amount of interest in the programme; the selection process has been very competitive and we will be accepting a maximum of 10% of all applicants on board. We are excited to announce the participants in the coming weeks.

Join us for the London Tech Week HealthTech Super Connector!

We are delighted to be hosting the biggest UK HealthTech ecosystem event of the year at LIHE. This event will bring together start-ups & scale-ups with pharma and MedTech digital innovators, investors, NHS and healthcare providers in one curated group on Wednesday, 12 June, 9:00 - 11:00 AM. Book your place now.

The MedTech Venture Builder is a 12-month structured programme in two stages to help accelerate the translation of promising medical technologies into robust, investment-ready healthcare ventures.

Learn more and apply now

Our collaborative focus on MedTech allows us to take ventures a significant step further than what has been achieved before programmatically. We will provide the structures that are critical to a robust MedTech company, such as a regulatory plan, a clinical evidence roadmap and stakeholder mapping, extensive hands-on guidance and monthly strategic progress reviews, all within a fit-for-purpose Quality Management System (QMS).

This is a truly unique opportunity for very select, high-potential MedTech companies from across the UK to receive fully customised, extensive executive support from experts in commercial translation from the partner institutions.

If you are a MedTech startup looking for the best support from the ecosystem, don’t miss this opportunity to apply now.

Supporting companies from across the UK, the MedTech Venture Builder, the first of its kind, is a collaborative effort between London’s leading academic institutions, King’s College London (lead), Queen Mary University London, City, University of London, and St. George’s University London.

Professor Sebastien Ourselin is the Head of the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, and the Director of the recently launched London Institute for Healthcare Engineering (LIHE). We spoke with him about his vision for LIHE, its unique value within the MedTech sector and how it supports King's Vision 2029.

“I've been working on medical devices for as long as I can remember. As an academic, it became clear to me that it is very hard to develop these devices in a vacuum, without the environment in which they will be deployed. I saw that we had a choice - we could build these devices on a case-by-case basis or we could think of how to solve the problem once and for all.”

Professor Sebastien Ourselin FREng FMedSci, Director of LIHE and Head of School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences

Read the full story here.

Register for the MedTech Venture Builder information session

The MedTech Venture Builder Collaborative Centre of Excellence (CCoE) is a 12-month structured programme in two stages to help accelerate the translation of promising medical technologies into robust, investment-ready healthcare ventures.

We are hosting an online information session on Friday 3rd May, where you can learn more about the aims of the MedTech Venture Builder programme and discover if it is right for you. You will have the opportunity to ask any questions and seek advice to support you in submitting your application.

Register now!

Supporting companies from across the UK, the MedTech Venture Builder, the first of its kind, is a collaborative effort between London’s leading academic institutions, King’s College London (lead), Queen Mary University London, City, University of London, and St. George’s University London.

LIHE hosts the inaugural NVIDIA 'AI in Healthcare' Meetup

On the 18th of April, we hosted the first such event, with more to come!

The current and potential impact of AI in medicine, healthcare engineering, and the provision of care in general cannot be overstated. With King's and LIHE supporting the translation of AI-based technologies to reach the bedside and the market, we are honoured to have been chosen by our partner, NVIDIA, to host.

After a welcome by Jaap Zuiderveld, VP EMEA at NVIDIA, and Nicolas Huber, LIHE's COO, attendees were introduced to the latest developments from NVIDIA in Healthcare AI by Bruno Trentini, followed by presentations from technologies on the cutting-edge of Healthcare AI, and networking.

We will be running a series of these events with NVIDIA at LIHE as we explore the state of the art in AI and the future of Healthcare. Stay tuned for more dates!

To see the original agenda by NVIDIA, click here.

LIHE to host new HealthTech Research Centre for cardiovascular and respiratory medicine

Guy's and St Thomas' and King's College London have launched a new HealthTech Research Centre (HRC) as part of £42 million England-wide funding. We are excited for the HRC to be headquartered within LIHE. 

Read more.

LIHE to host 30 Under 30 entrepreneur

Dr Pontiki has been included in this year’s Forbes 30 under 30 list of achievers in the field of Healthcare for her work using 3D printing to create patient-specific prosthetics, and artificial organs for medical students to practice skills on. We're delighted the future translation of Dr Pontiki's work into clinic will be supported here at LIHE. 

Read more.

Calling Ph.D. Students, Post-docs & Supervisors!

We are excited to announce our 6th annual Summer Workshop on Surgical and Interventional Engineering, May 20-24th 2024. For the first time, our workshop will be delivered jointly in our Surgical & Interventional Engineering Laboratories at the Waterloo King’s College London Campus and LIHE. The course will be hybrid learning.

Visit the website for more information.

We’re proud to have opened the doors to our first community members this month, with the full roll-out of our inaugural MedTech venture builder, events programmes, and more coming soon.

We’re also delighted to be making our home in a beautiful new building co-located on the St Thomas’ Hospital campus (and the Thames view is pretty great too!)

But what, exactly, will we be doing in LIHE, you ask.

Simply put, our one metric for success is how many patients are positively impacted by the MedTech innovations we support.

We’ll do this by bringing those innovations to them faster, and by supporting new MedTech companies in a unique and structured way.

This is no small task, and though we have the formidable capabilities of King’s College London fully behind us on this journey, we are glad to have you on-board with us here!

Whether you are an academic, a clinician, an entrepreneur, an industry expert, a student, an investor, a patient advocate or in any way can contribute to our mission, we want to welcome you to join our journey.

“Only a handful of life-saving innovations make it to the patient bedside due to the complexities of bringing medical technology innovations to market. By collocating all critical stakeholders in a dedicated physical space side by side to our University and Hospital, we are giving the best chance to innovations of making a real impact, at pace. Because our future patients deserve it.”

Professor Sebastien Ourselin FREng FMedSci, Head of School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences and Director of LIHE

We have great plans for the coming months including the launch of our unique programmes, live events, and exciting partnerships.

LIHE’s landmark building is designed to foster collaboration and co-creation, and is the culmination of 10 years of immense effort, commitment and investment from King’s, our staff, and partners such as Wellcome Trust, NVIDIA, and Siemens Healthineers to name a few.

A small sample of our journey so far is below, and we hope to inspire you to share in our common mission. We promise that your time at LIHE will be time well-invested, and that we will value every minute of it!

Until next time,
Nicolas, Irina, and the LIHE team

Unique Opportunity for MedTech Startups

We have launched our MedTech Venture Builder programme in partnership with Queen Mary University of London, City University, London, and St George’s University of London. This is a truly unique opportunity for select, high-potential MedTech companies from across the UK to receive for free fully customised, extensive executive support from experts in commercial translation from the partner institutions. This is a UK-first, and only possible with the support of a generous grant by Research England.

If you are a MedTech startup looking for the best support from the ecosystem, learn more and apply using this link.

MEDTECH NEWS:

King's 3D medical modelling spin-out acquired by international MedTech company KARL STORZ

LIHE signs first SME member to accelerate impact to patients

King's launches new facility for Manufacture of Active Implants and Surgical Instruments

Novel medical imaging technology enables detailed visualisation of the human heart

King's secures £1.5m to develop the UK's first MedTech company builder

Hypervision Surgical awarded Cutlers' Surgical Prize for HyperSnap hyperspectral imaging system

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