Our Technical Infrastructure

Building the technical foundations for the future of Horizon Scanning

The Innovation Observatory’s work depends on our ability to identify, manage and analyse large and rapidly changing volumes of information about health and care innovation.

Our Technical Infrastructure Programme is building the shared data, systems and technical capabilities that support this work. It provides the foundation through which our programmes can collect information from diverse sources, organise and analyse it consistently, and turn it into intelligence for decision-makers.

Our Technical Capabilities

Data ingestion and source management: Developing and maintaining processes that collect and update information from a wide range of sources across the global health and care innovation landscape.

Harmonised data and reusable assets: Brining information from different sources into more consistent structures so that it can be searched, compared, linked and reused across different areas of work.

Secure cloud infrastructure: Providing the computing, storage, deployment and monitoring needed to operate our systems reliably and support their continued development.

Analyst-facing tools and workflows: Creating applications and workflows that help researchers search, screen, review, analyse and manage information more efficiently.

AI-enabled analysis: Exploring and implementing applied artificial intelligence where it can support tasks such as screening, classification, information extraction and evidence synthesis, with appropriate expert oversight.

APIs and controlled access: Developing secure ways for authorised users, systems, and partners to access data and technical services.

Sustainable technical development: Using shared standards, reusable components, version control and automated testing to improve consistency, maintainability, and the long-term sustainability of our systems.

 

How we Build

The Innovation Observatory has a decade of experience in horizon scanning, and with it a wealth of specialist data, methods and domain knowledge.

To build on this, we have invested in a dedicated in-house technical team – engineers, developers and data specialists working alongside our researchers and analysts – so that our systems are designed, built and maintained by people embedded in the work they support. Developing in-house allows us to build shared infrastructure rather than separate solutions, to respond quickly as needs evolve, and to retain the technical knowledge our systems depend on.

Core capabilities – from automated data collection to AI-assisted evidence review – are already in day-to-day use, on a platform designed to be more consistent, maintainable and built to extend.

Looking Ahead

We are continuing to broaden the range of sources our systems draw on, and to deepen the role of applied AI across tasks such as screening, classification, extraction and synthesis – always with expert oversight built in.

We develop our infrastructure in close collaboration with the people who use it, so that our tools, workflows, and outputs are shaped by the practical realities of horizon scanning rather than by technology for its own sake. As these capabilities mature, they will provide an increasingly strong platform for our programmes – and for new services and partnerships in the future.

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