Welcome 

Welcome to our newsletter! In this edition we will be sharing some exciting projects, positive developments, the events that we will be attending, tips on intellectual property and all the updates that you need to know on MidTECH.

Company updates –

MidTECH NHS funding Launch:

Earlier on in the year we had launched a joint funding opportunity with the West Midlands Academic Health Science Network and Mercia Fund Management (MFM), a leading investment for small to medium enterprises (SMEs). This NHS-SME Innovation Fund was built to support healthcare businesses across the West Midlands who are working in collaboration with an NHS Trust in the region.

The NHS-SME Innovation Fund was set up to provide investment, links to the NHS, and academic networks. In doing so the fund would support innovations that have the potential to deliver a high impact for society, reputation of the West Midlands health services and lead the adoption of new innovations in the NHS.

The successful applicant will receive:

• A Convertible loan of up to £50,000
• Access to future investment capital
• Regular mentor workshops from industry experts including experienced life science entrepreneurs
• Contacts in the NHS and healthcare sectors

A requirement of this fund is that there must be a collaboration between the applicant and a West Midlands NHS organisation.

Mercia has a strong track record of financially supporting and building life science businesses across the UK, all of which provide an innovative way of streamlining services, improving patient safety and releasing the burden of cost on the NHS. The fund will be led by Peter Dines, Investment Director and Head of Life Sciences at Mercia.

To  view the status of all innovations and the results of their evaluations and review, please click on the following link: https://meridian.wmahsn.org/subdomain/sme-innovation-fund/end/ideas. This campaign may reopen so keep an eye out as you may be able to ‘submit your innovation’ to the campaign on Meridian.

If you would like more information please contact Tammy Holmes at tammy.holmes@wmahsn.org or Amardeep Kandola at amardeep.kaur@midtech.org.uk for further assistance.

Changes to our Membership Scheme:

There has been a change in our membership scheme! Under our new working model, working via the West Midlands Academic Health Science Network – from April 2019 – our services are now available and accessible to all NHS organisations across the West Midlands region…with no fee!

Your NHS organisation can now enjoy the benefits of our experience and expertise in developing, delivering and protecting innovation without a membership fee. We fit and shape our services to your NHS organisations needs and strengths. We will understand how each NHS organisation generates new ideas and we try to protect those ideas ensuring that they deliver real benefits to patients, the NHS staff and to other NHS organisations across the country.

If you would like more information on this, click on the following link: https://www.midtech.org.uk/how-to-access-midtech.html

NEW Expert Blogs:

We have been working hard on getting you expert advice on intellectual property (IP) and keeping all of you up to date with any changes that are occurring in the world of IP. Our new Expert Blog page consists of professionals and experts from different organisations covering a range of hot topics – from the basics to Brexit to doing business in China.

Florian Bazant-Hegemark – Senior Associate at Marks & Clerk – has covered the topic of filing patents and how it is a key step to locking in the value of innovative new products.

Jagvir Purewal – Senior Associate and Patent Attorney at Forresters – discusses your IP rights during Brexit.

Jane Kennedy – Trade Mark Attorney at Vault IP – explains how to avoid the IP pitfalls that many fall into before entering the Chinese Market.

Howard Read – Senior Associate – Patent Attorney at Appleyard Lees – discusses artificial intelligence and machine learning in healthcare.

Take a look at them here: https://www.midtech.org.uk/blogs.html

If you would like to create a blog that we can share, or would like any topics covered, then please do get in contact with us.

Meridian:

Do you have a success story or some best practice that you would like to share? If the answer is yes… then why not share it across Meridian. This could help spread your idea, network with the right people and give you the chance to develop your ideas. Find out how we can help you do this by simply contacting us.

Events:

We are looking at holding events for each of the six STP’s to introduce MidTECH’s services and offer a brief summary to intellectual property…

We will also be explaining how we work, how we can help bring your innovation to life within the NHS and how we can help protect those innovative ideas of yours from being stolen or copied.

If you would like us to hold an Intellectual Property Masterclass, and an introduction to MidTECH, in your organisation, then please get in touch.

Awards:

Meet the Winner of our MidTECH Award for Best NHS Developed Innovation!

This year representatives from across the NHS, industry, academia, third sector, charities, care homes and patient population all came together at the Park Regis Birmingham for the Meridian Awards – A Celebration of Innovation on the 18th July 2019.

The awards recognise and celebrate the work of individuals, teams and organisations that are developing innovations that better healthcare for patients across the West Midlands. The Meridian awards provide an opportunity to showcase and celebrate these achievements.

The WINNER of our MidTECH Award for Best NHS Developed Innovation and £10,000 prize fund was ‘BESTIE’ – created at Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust. The award was presented to the BESTIE team by Dr Jagvir Purewal a Senior Associate and Patent Attorney at Forresters.

Here are a few words from Dr Jagvir Purewal a Senior Associate and Patent Attorney at Forresters: “It has been a pleasure working with the team at MidTECH to support the protection and commercialisation of innovation arising from the NHS.  BESTIE is a shining example and I was delighted to present them with the Innovation prize.  I and the Forresters team were very impressed with the passion, team work and impact that the BESTIE project has had. We at Forresters hope the Innovation prize helps to grow BESTIE and aid more young people to manage their mental health.”

Below are some words from the Youth Board members from the BESTIE team:

“Winning the award was really exciting because it felt great to be recognised for something that means a lot to Youth Board and that has had so much work put into it”

Carla Shipley (Youth Board Member)

“Being involved in the process and then actually winning the award has been really rewarding, as it shows to us that we have been part of creating something that others recognise as innovative and useful”

Rob Walkley (Youth Board Member)

This revolutionary app aims to help young people with their mental health needs. The BESTIE app was designed and created by young individuals, clinicians and IT experts. This app is cited to be first of its kind, as it aims to transform the way, children, young people and parents get access to online support to help with emotional wellbeing.

BESTIE will support children / young people who are accessing mental health services, providing online resources and tools to support their specific care plans. The app will also allow individuals to track their mood, goals and progress – giving them access to tailored care and guidance whenever needed.

“It was an incredible experience and being involved in BESTIE has been amazing especially to see how far it has gone and being an equal partner in its development has just been amazing”

Katie Conway (Youth Board Member)

“I feel so privileged to have been part of this incredible project, connecting young people, clinicians and IT. Winning this award means so much to us and demonstrates how powerful it is to keep young people at the heart of what we do. I hope that they have inspired others to ensure that service users are able to lead the development of healthcare innovation. Thank you to MidTECH and the West Midlands Academic Health Science Network for their support in the project and continuing to connect the healthcare community.”

Dr. Ben Rogers
Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Trust Lead for Psychological Interventions. Service Lead for Psychological Interventions- Children, Young People and Families and Specialist Primary Care SDU

BESTIE is currently in its final stages of piloting and has been shared across the healthcare sector ahead of going live later this year.

If you would like to learn more about the BESTIE project read below. This further demonstrates why the BESTIE team were worthy winners of our MidTECH award!

Project Highlight:

 

BESTIE is an interactive online platform built by Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust – designed by local young people, clinicians and IT experts. Its goal is to revolutionise the way children, young people and parents get access to online help to support emotional wellbeing.

BESTIE derived from the increasing recognition in CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) that there was a need for better understanding of the digital world which is now used by many children and young people. CAMHS users and members of the Youth Board on this project highlighted that whilst online resources for young people with mental health needs are increasing, many of the platforms created by the NHS are formed by adults and the technology used for these apps is not comparable with the technology young people use in their daily lives, particularly in social media and gaming.

The app was therefore collaboratively designed, built and developed by clinicians, IT colleagues, web designers and the Youth Board.

The Youth Board, clinicians, IT and designers agreed that BESTIE would incorporate five ‘domains’ which would support young people. The five domains were created from direct input from the Worcestershire CAMHS service users:

• Personalisation (e.g. the ability to personalise the product to the individual in terms of appearance, resources and information)
• Information (e.g. the ability to gain helpful information about mental health and wellbeing including videos, links, web-pages as well as information about our services)
• Tracking how I am (e.g. the ability to track outcomes, mood, progress and goals)
• Social (e.g. the ability to use social contact such as peer mentors and online clinician-facilitated groups)
• Gaming and tech (e.g. the use of new technology, including games, smart devices and activities which support young people’s mental health)

The ‘name’ was created by the Youth Board who had been involved in the workshops.

BESTIE (powered by Wupwoo) was selected.  The elements of this name are as follows:

B – Balance

E – Energy

S – Support

T – Thrive

I – Interactive

E – Evolve

BESTIE encourages users to engage in social, physical and health – related activities. There are two versions of BESTIE. One of the versions aims to support young people who are accessing mental health services and provides them with online resources and tools to support their specific care plans, as well as resources which helps them to track their mood, goals and progress. Therefore, providing tailored help and guidance wherever they need it.

The first version will be a public version which will also be available to download which will provide more generic advice and support for young people and parents.

Overall this app aims to improve the engagement of young people with mental health services by involving them in producing a safe digital space where they can interact with other users and mental health professionals. It allows individuals to:

• Improve their awareness, understanding of their own mental health needs
• Share own recovery stories (including the positive impacts on Mental Health)
• Able to use skilled learned in CAMHS in real-world setting
• Engaging in clinical therapy, including between session
• Connect with clinicians and young people in a safe online setting
• Able to monitor and engage in tracking mood, emotions and goals.

This should impact emotional wellbeing and mental health whilst reducing exposure to more harmful social media platforms.

BESTIE is currently being piloted and has been shared across the healthcare sector ahead of going live later this year and will be available on the App Store, Android and web-app.

https://www.camhsbestie.co.uk/

Q&A:

Your idea, intellectual property and the revenue share of any potential monies generated from it.

Want to know more about the ownership of your idea, intellectual property and the revenue share of any potential monies generated from it? Well in this newsletter we will be focusing on these issues. We have all the answers to all your questions here.

You may be asking yourself, “If I invent something, the idea belongs to me doesn’t it?”

Well this may not necessarily be the case. The law states that if your idea is made during that course of your normal duties then it is not yours, it is owned by your employer. Any ideas that are not related to your job are however owned by you.

This can be a complicated area, so please get in contact with us if you would like more information on an idea belonging to yourself.

What if I had the idea at home and worked on it in my own time?

Legally speaking, if it is still an idea to do with your job, then it makes no difference. So, if the idea is related to your normal duties, it is still owned by your employer.

You’re probably asking yourself now, well if I don’t own the idea what is in it for me?

In accordance with the Department of Health guidelines, many Trusts have an intellectual property policy that allows for an employee who invents a new product or innovation to receive a share of any money the Trust makes from its commercialisation.

Exploiting new ideas, even the simplest of devices, is an expensive and risky business with no guarantee of success. If the idea is owned by the Trust, MidTECH can provide expertise and resources to progress the project at no personal cost or risk to you. You will also have the satisfaction of seeing your idea realised, for the benefit of you, your Trust, the NHS and its patients.