12 Launchpad companies announce their pioneering solutions for healthcare

January marks the end of the seventh cohort of Launchpad, a support programme for early-stage innovators looking to develop and refine their digital solutions for healthcare. As the innovators announce their new products and innovation milestones, Digital Health Guide Karla Richards, who provides tailored mentoring through Launchpad, shares some highlights from working with this new wave of founders.

We’ve reached the end of another exciting innovation support programme at DigitalHealth.London. This time, the seventh cohort of Launchpad are introducing their groundbreaking digital health solutions to market, following 11 weeks of webinars, tailored mentoring and opportunities to collaborate with industry experts.

Since we kicked off programme in October 2024, I, along with the rest of the team, have worked closely with the innovators to learn more about their health tech solutions and find ways to develop, and ultimately launch, their products. The innovators also gained insights from NHS advisors, strategic partners and key stakeholders with first-hand NHS clinical and operational experience.

Our workshops provided insights into how the NHS works, and we talked about a range of topics, including the importance of evidence for value proposition, regulatory compliance and understanding Intellectual Property. One of my favourite workshops on the programme was our pitching morning. It was great to see how over the course of a one hour session our founders managed to refine and update their 3 minute pitches to be engaging and informative, and to convince us that we all want to buy their products!

For the final stage of the programme, the 12 companies are sharing a series of blogs, press releases, website updates and announcements to the NHS, signalling a new milestone in their innovation journeys. The solutions that have been developed by our Launchpad companies have the potential to effect real change. As the UK government pivot towards digital to enhance the delivery of care in the NHS, these products should help usher in efficiencies and cost savings, whilst enhancing patient care. Across the whole Launchpad cohort, the digital solutions cover clinical areas including cancer treatment, memory loss, cardiovascular, ADHD, mental health, rheumatism, maternity, tinnitus and ophthalmology, and technology for staff training, assessment and decision making.

The Motherhood Group, for example, has been working with Black mothers since 2016, delivering training workshops, community based events, peer-to-peer support, as well as leading on National awareness campaigns, such as Black Maternal Mental Health Week. To see them expand their face-to-face offer into the digital realm is a really exciting move. Their new Blackmums app, which was announced as part of Launchpad, offers a platform for Black mothers to connect through their maternal journeys. It has already had over 4,000 downloads!

BirdieBox has also been doing some very powerful work, helping people with dementia and memory loss to gain independence through their AI-powered platform. The app, which launched in November, supports users to capture memories with loved ones, as well as providing reminders and prompts to support daily routines.

Elsewhere, BlackFrame.ai is revolutionising the way medical students are assessed by automating the evaluation of clinical skills and competencies. It has been fantastic to see this solution develop, with new trials being announced at Bristol Medical School and Warwick Medical School, as Launchpad concludes. We are lucky to get to work with the best up-and-coming innovators and are always excited to share our experience and knowledge to help refine the brightest health and social care innovations.

It has been a real pleasure to witness first-hand the enthusiasm and commitment of these innovators, who all have the potential to effect change in their chosen areas of work. I would invite our partners and stakeholders to get in touch if you would like to know more about these solutions, including ways to collaborate on pilots and partnerships. We are happy to not only support innovators, but also the NHS teams who would like some advice and guidance about rolling out and testing these new solutions.

Follow DigitalHealth.London on LinkedIn to see the latest announcements from Launchpad cohort seven, including product launches and ways to collaborate.

To learn more about the Launchpad programme and ways to support the seventh cohort, please email Karla Richards.

DigitalHealth.London Launchpad is funded by the UK Government via the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). It is delivered by the Health Innovation Network (HIN) South London in partnership with the Office of Life Sciences, CW+, Medicity, NHS England and the Mayor of London.

For more information, please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-
shared-prosperity-fund-prospectus.