Case study: Bevan Commission Health Technology Exemplars
What did we do?
We applied health technology assessment methods to the Bevan Health Technology Exemplars (HTE) programme, producing brief technology exploration reports to assess the evidence underpinning the 2018 and 2019 applications.
Who with?
We worked with the Bevan Commission, a leading Welsh think tank and national innovation body, that partners NHS and industry stakeholders to strengthen innovation within NHS Wales. The Bevan HTE projects facilitate collaborations between NHS Wales and industry stakeholders.
What were the reactions?
“A huge amount of value, evidence and rigour was added to the Health Tech Exemplar application and assessment process by having HTW join the panel.”
– Tom James, Head of Innovation and Industry Engagement, Welsh Government
“Your experience, expertise and preparedness for the task in hand made a huge contribution to the overall success of this year’s HTE selection process. Your team’s input, I found to be invaluable and brought extra rigour needed to support the final decision making at the Dragon’s Den panel meeting.”
– Chris Martin, Deputy Chair of the Bevan Commission, Swansea University
What did we learn?
Applying HTA methods alongside early engagement with innovators results in a more critical consideration of the value proposition of their technology. This encourages a focus on evidencing improvements and supports evidence-informed decision making in the allocation of scarce innovation funds.
What difference did this make?
The Bevan Commission has invited us to routinely build health technology assessment and evidence considerations into their future innovation calls and competitions. We also provide ongoing advice to the HTEs, encouraging prospective evidence collection to build a case for the adoption of their innovations.
Early engagement with key innovation stakeholders enables us to identify and offer support to the most promising new technologies as quickly as possible.
This work has enabled us to contribute to the ambitious health, wealth and innovations polices of Welsh Government and support the strong Welsh life science sector. It also contributes to our objective to appraise technologies throughout their lifecycle, from innovation to obsolescence.