Meet the Team
Like all successful organisations the Innovation Observatory is built on the collective effort of a multidisciplinary team.
The Innovation Observatory is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and hosted by Newcastle University. Established in 2017, we bring together expertise in research, data science and health innovation to identify and assess emerging healthcare innovations, helping health and care organisations prepare for the future.
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Like all successful organisations the Innovation Observatory is built on the collective effort of a multidisciplinary team.
We help the health and care ecosystem anticipate and prepare for the future.
Our governance arrangements ensure that priorities, resources and delivery are aligned to the needs of the health and care system while maintaining appropriate assurance and public accountability.
The NIHR Innovation Observatory identifies emerging innovations across the global healthcare landscape and transforms them into trusted intelligence that helps organisations anticipate change, make informed decisions and prepare for the future.
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Identifying today's emerging innovations to prepare for tomorrow's healthcare challenges
Building a connected, scalable infrastructure for the next generation of healthcare horizon scanning
Our four horizon scanning programmes span from Priority, Reactive, Proactive, and Demand Signalling. Find out more about how they all work together.
We are committed to building capability across the health and care system by developing skills, supporting careers and creating opportunities to learn, collaborate and grow.
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We develop and share cutting edge methods in horizon scanning, building capacity in the system across the public, voluntary and industry sectors.
We invest in people and support them in realising their full potential. Through nurturing and encouraging career development, we grow future national and international leaders.
Connecting the wider community with opportunities to learn, collaborate and develop through fellowships, immersion events, placements and external programmes.
We provide a gateway to collaboration, intelligence, and growth opportunities in healthcare and life sciences.
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Connecting with stakeholders across health and care to share knowledge, build relationships and support the effective use of our work.
Embedding lived experience into our work to ensure our approaches and outputs reflect the needs of patients and the public.
Live Dashboards
April 2024
Live Dashboards
September 2023
Live Dashboards
December 2022
The NIHR Innovation Observatory is proud to have signed up to the shared commitment to improve public involvement in research, alongside a range of health and care research organisations and members of the public.
Together, our organisations and members fund, support and regulate health and social care research. This statement is our joint commitment to improve the extent and quality of public involvement across the sector so that it is consistently excellent.
People have the right to be involved in all health and social care research. Excellent public involvement is an essential part of health and social care research and has been shown to improve its quality and impact. Together we aim to ensure people’s lived experiences is a key driver for health and social care research.
When we talk about public involvement, we mean all the ways in which the research community works together with people including patients, carers, advocates, service users, and members of the community. Excellent public involvement is inclusive, values all contributions, ensures people have a meaningful say in what happens and influences outcomes, as set out in the UK Standards for Public Involvement.
Working together we will support the research community to carry out excellent public involvement. We will provide or share guidance, policies, systems, and incentives.
Organisations who have signed the Shared Commitment can be found here: The Shared Commitment to Public Involvement in health and social care research partners
Organisations from across the health and social care research sector are invited to join our Shared Commitment. Find out how your organisation can get involved.