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The ACCELERATE Innovation Team Challenge is an annual eight-week training program initiated by the UCL Therapeutic Innovation Networks (TINs). It aims to encourage interdisciplinary collaborations and help UCL biomedical research communities upskill in translational research. This initiative is part of the ongoing efforts of TINs to nurture the product and talent pipeline for fostering healthcare translations within UCL.

The Team Challenge is open to healthcare researchers across UCL and the three UCL Biomedical Research Centres, from any discipline and background, starting from first-year post-doctoral fellows. Participants apply individually to the program and are placed into interdisciplinary teams based on shared interests. Throughout the program, participants combine their unique knowledge, skills, and experiences to develop a proposal addressing a real-life translational research challenge of their choosing within an interdisciplinary team.

The primary focus of each proposal is to address real-life healthcare translational challenges. This may include a commercial idea for a healthcare need (e.g., a new product or service) or an improvement to an existing service in a non-commercial setting (e.g., enhancing the efficiency of hospital processes, healthcare data sharing, etc.).

Participating teams received training sessions covering healthcare innovations, entrepreneurial mindsets, and pitching skills. At the program's conclusion, teams had the opportunity to bid for a £10,000 award or non-financial support to advance their proposal over the during a six month period.

Over the course of three cohorts, the ACCELERATE Innovation Team Challenge has awarded a cumulative total of £80,000 to support the development of innovative translational research ideas.

2023 ACCELERATE Innovation Team Challenge Winners & Finalist:

Of the three teams that withstood the 8-week training programme, namely EpiSync, ApySense and RecoverEase (in no particular order), each team's proposal was found to be sufficiently novel to make a meaningful difference to the real-life translational research challenge identified.
Consequently, EpiSync, ÌýApySense and RecoverEase received an award of £10,000 each (with caveats) for their proposals and - to advance their research ideas. Huge congratulations to them for their achievement!

What is each team’s project (in no particular order):

• EpiSync: (a wearable seizure detection health device): A reliable and potentially life-saving solution for people with drug resistant epilepsy, enabling them to independently manage potentially fatal seizures. This device aims to improve patient quality of life, reduce hospital admissions, and improve long-term patient outcomes.
  Team members: , and
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• ApySense: (a portable device to help Psychologists confirm mental health diagnosis e.g. depressions and anxiety): a non-invasive, portable device, for use by mental health care professionals, that complements traditional assessments. The characteristics of the device are: immediate readouts (absence of lab analysis), ease of use and absence of behavioural data requirements (reducing privacy/ethical concerns). It will aid healthcare professionals provide rapid, reliable diagnosis, increasing confidence in medical treatments and patients’ recovery.
  Team members: , , and
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• RecoverEase (a remote monitoring wearable health tech): to support clinicians with innovative technology for remote monitoring of post-surgical patients during both hospital and home recovery. Our platform integrates normal observations with wearable metrics, providing key clinical insights and a modified early warning score for deterioration. This approach aims to enable safe home monitoring, leading to earlier discharges, improved hospital capacity, and minimized A+E readmissions.
  Team members: ; and

We look forward to further promoting the translational research culture within the UCL biomedical community. Please feel free to get in touch if you are interested in our future training sessions and translational research initiatives.

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For enquiries about ACCELERATE translational research training, please contact:
Nasema Uddin, Translational Training Manager, Academic Careers Office (ACO)
Email: nasema.uddin@ucl.ac.uk

For enquiries about the UCL Therapeutic Innovation Networks (TINs) and support from translational research, please contact:
tins@ucl.ac.uk

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Photos 1-3:

Dr. Jane Kinghorn, Director of the UCL Translational Research Office (2nd Right), Dr Mario Moustras, PCC CSci CChem FRSC (1st right), and Nasema Uddin, Translational Training Manager, Academic Careers Office (1st left), presented the certificates to the teams for completing the ACCELERATE Innovation Team Challenge.

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