Industry collaborations are the direction of travel – but what is the right way to do this? Bec Elvey, Amy Mathieson and Paul Wilson of the Division of Population Health, Health Services Research and Primary Care, University of Manchester, explain why they are running a workshop at HSR UK 2025.
Getting innovations rapidly adopted into practice is a global concern for health systems. Testing and scaling innovation requires collaborative working between various stakeholders.
The Innovation Ecosystem Programme review has highlighted the need for more streamlined pathways to accelerate scaling of innovations and ways of working that are aligned to national and local priorities and need. The forthcoming NHS 10-Year Health Plan and the Innovation and Adoption Strategy will also emphasise the importance of innovation in achieving the NHS’s goals both in terms of improving the nation’s health and driving economic growth.
NIHR infrastructure already provides a testbed for the development, evaluation, and implementation of new health and care technologies across the research translational pathway. Collaboration between the applied health research community and industry partners will be essential if accelerated innovation scaling and implementation is to be achieved.
But how does this work in practice? And crucially - what does it means for patients and service users?
We are a team of researchers based at The University of Manchester. We ventured into a research collaboration with industry through a real-world evaluation of the rollout of an innovation in the NHS across England. This work was a collaboration between the university, the NHS, the Accelerated Access Collaborative, the Health Innovation Network and a pharmaceutical company. Evaluating the implementation of an innovation was familiar work for us, but we were sometimes in unchartered territory. Working with new people was a great opportunity but there were challenges too. When we started to present our findings, it was clear that not everyone agrees with academic researchers doing industry-funded research!
Whilst this work isn’t always plain sailing, it is the direction of travel.
We are running this workshop for HSRUK 2025 to provide a platform for sharing a broader range of experiences and a forum for debate.
The workshop will focus on the principles and practice of industry collaborations. The workshop will include:
- Rapid fire case studies of working with industry from a panel of speakers, including health services researcher, patient and Health Innovation Network perspectives.
- Facilitated group discussions where participants will explore stakeholder needs, expectations, and research dynamics.
It is suitable for all researchers – whether you have experience of working with industry, are planning collaborative work, or are curious about it.
So come along, join the conversation and have your say!
Workshop: ‘Should health services researchers engage with industry?’ | HSR UK 2025 | Thursday 3rd July | 11.45am.
Register now for the HSR UK 2025 Conference at hsruk2025.org or email [email protected] for more information.
Dr Bec Elvey | Research Fellow | Centre for Primary Care and Health Services Research | University of Manchester | [email protected]
Dr Amy Mathieson | Research Associate | Centre for Primary Care and Health Services Research | University of Manchester | A[email protected]