UK Policy and Partnerships Drive Growth in European MedTech Sector

UK’s HIN & GEP empower global health innovators, bridging NHS needs with European MedTech to deliver scalable, patient-focused solutions.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, September 3, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- In healthcare, true breakthroughs happen when the right people connect. At the crossroads of European healthtech and the UK’s unique life sciences ecosystem stand the Health Innovation Network (HIN) and the Global Entrepreneur Programme (GEP) — a UK government-backed initiative that supports ambitious founders from around the world in scaling their technology businesses using the UK as a global HQ.

International Collaboration: Shaping Health Innovation in the UK & Europe
European health systems face shared challenges—aging populations, funding pressures, and rising demand for personalized medicine. UK initiatives such as the NHS’s Health Innovation Network (HIN) and the Global Entrepreneur Programme (GEP) foster collaboration to address these needs, following national strategies like “Fit for the Future”1.
This collaboration aligns with the objectives of this Plan, particularly in:
• Data-driven innovation.
• Early diagnosis, especially in cancer and chronic diseases.
• Enhanced digital infrastructure.
• Partnerships with healthtech companies for scalable solutions.

"The NHS is focused on three priorities: moving care closer to home, preventing illness earlier, and accelerating the shift from analogue to digital. International innovators can play an important role in all three. By bringing solutions from other systems into the NHS with an established track record in their home country, international innovators allow the NHS to harness the best of global solutions. We’re looking at AI, robots, wearables, genomics, and data as key components of the next wave of development. At Health Innovation Oxford and Thames Valley, we connect these solutions with local system needs and support evidence generation in real-world settings. This ensures global partners align with both regional and national strategy while delivering impact for patients and the health system."
— James Rose, Director of Strategic and Industry Partnerships, Health Innovation Oxford and Thames Valley

The Health Innovation Network: NHS’s Hub for International Healthtech
The Health Innovation Network (HIN)3 is the NHS’s innovation hub, with 15 regional branches across England. Since 2013, HIN has championed evidence-based healthcare solutions, supporting their adoption to benefit 4.9 million patients and save over 340,000 hours of staff time. In 2023/24, HIN efforts led to 1.2 million patients helped, £467 million attracted for health innovations, and 10,000 jobs created or safeguarded.
The focus is both national and profoundly local, with each network tailoring support for its region while contributing to a pool of best practices that elevates patient care across the UK.
“Health Innovation West Midlands believe that good ideas and good innovation can come from anywhere. What is most important is that the innovation will truly solve a real problem, supporting better patient care. We recognise that navigating the NHS can be tricky - as a complex eco-system, it is important to recognise the value of clinician and patient insight, whilst also understanding the financial, procurement, governance and other organisational elements that all need to align for innovation to be successfully deployed. Often international innovators come with a predetermined idea of how the NHS works, and so allowing time to listen to a range of NHS colleagues (clinical, operational and financial) will help with positive market entry. There are many challenges facing the NHS but innovations with a good evidence base demonstrating their ability to solve real life problems will always be welcomed”
— Judith Stewart, Director of Economic, HIN West Midlands.

*** Health Innovation West Midlands are proud partners of Life Sciences Week 2025 ***

Global Entrepreneur Programme (GEP): Facilitating International Expansion
In turn GEP’s model is built on hands-on mentoring from experienced entrepreneurs (“dealmakers”), offering foreign startups tailored support to establish, scale, and internationalize their operations in the UK. Since its inception in 2004, GEP has enabled:
 over 1,200 founders
 to raise more than £2.5billion in VC funding,
 create 10,000+ high value jobs and harness the UK’s world-class resources for international success.
This program complements the NHS and HIN’s systematic approach to deploying innovation by providing expert guidance, strategic partnerships, and direct access to the UK healthtech ecosystem.

How Can European Countries Learn from the HIN & GEP Model?
HIN and GEP form a powerful platform for international health innovators in the UK—combining clinical expertise and NHS access with business mentoring, market entry support, and investor connections. This joint model helps innovators bring advanced solutions to the NHS, build scalable businesses, and offers a blueprint for European countries to foster collaborative, multi-disciplinary health innovation ecosystems.
"The UK Global Entrepreneur Programme is a government-backed bridge linking our innovative business with public institutions. Here, I can see a big role of GEP dealmakers who are like a trusted bridge - intermediaries who understand both our commercial needs of a scaling business and the operational language of government agencies, regulators, and R&D bodies. For Hemolens Diagnostics Ltd., they connected us with NHS innovation pathways and leading research institutions, accelerating our entry and credibility in the UK market. This combination made our expansion quicker, smarter, and more impactful."
— Robert Zgoda, CEO, Hemolens Diagnostics Ltd.

From Breakthroughs to Real-World Impact: Case Example
A notable example of this cross-border collaboration is previously mentioned company, Hemolens Diagnostics^®, a Polish MedTech company that has established a UK subsidiary under the leadership of CEO Robert Zgoda and actively engages with British innovation networks. Hemolens’ main achievement—a non-invasive diagnostic system for coronary artery disease, utilizing artificial intelligence and advanced algorithms—directly addresses key clinical challenges highlighted in NHS policy, such as earlier and less invasive diagnosis, reducing unnecessary interventions, and offering scalable solutions suitable for resource-limited healthcare settings.

Companies like Hemolens Diagnostics^® exemplify how cross-European, UK-driven collaborations can accelerate the transition of innovative pilots from local testing to Europe-wide adoption. Their partnership model mirrors the principles set out in NHS policies: collaboration, system-level impact, and data-centric innovation.

Join the Hemolens webinar: What Your Cardiac CT Images Aren’t Telling You (Yet)

Sources:
1. 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future - GOV.UK
2. The Health Innovation Network
3. Health innovation network impact report - NHS Networks

Aleksandra Podkówka-Poźniak
Hemolens Diagnostics Sp. z o.o.
aleksandra.podkowka-pozniak@hemolens.com
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