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There is a lot of support for life science companies available in the UK, including those with IVD products. However the support available is not always obvious, and historically it has been hard to navigate.

The Accelerated Access Collaborative, part of NHS England, has recognised this and has set up a one stop shop called the NHS Innovation Service (Welcome | NHS Innovation Service). This can be navigated in 2 ways:

If you want specific advice for a new test then you can make an account which requires you to go through a simple Q&A procedure and this will then get information tailored to your needs.

However, if you just want to learn more about the whole process then you can ignore this step and use the menu to navigate down to the Innovation Guides section where there are two documents, a starter guide with simplified information and an advanced guide which gives more detail. Both guides take you through steps from product creation to adoption and procurement.

Some people will be aware of the Health Tech Connect system which NICE hosted. To avoid duplication, this has been discontinued and information about NICE and its services are also on the Innovation Service. However, the system is still relatively new so new additions are being added and there will still be omissions – so still worth talking to us at BIVDA if you need IVD support! As an example, the NIHR Medtech and IVD co-operatives (MICs) are not on the Innovation Service currently.

BIVDA would recommend this as a useful support so please keep this in mind – and we will do ad hoc reminders to keep you posted especially with any new developments.