A new partnership between the North of England’s health sciences ecosystem and Israel’s high-innovation medtech sector is flourishing following innovation exchanges between the two countries.

Since 2017 the Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA) has developed strong ties with the Israeli Innovation Authority (IIA) and the UK Israel Tech Hub. The potential of the two systems working closely together was recognised quickly and has led to a flurry of Israeli companies coming over to the North of England, bringing expertise.

NHSA Head of International Dr Ben Martyn explains: “Israel has a high-innovation economy with some truly groundbreaking tech which has huge potential to improve lives for patients in the UK. The North of England, with its excellence in clinical trials, universities and health research, offers a mutually beneficial environment in which to bring this technology into market.”

The NHSA represents 24 organisations across the North of England, ten universities, ten NHS hospital trusts and the northern academic health science networks. A memorandum of understanding was signed between the NHSA and the IIA in May 2022, following a number of successful visits between the two countries. Over 50 companies have been in touch with the Northern ecosystem following the agreement, including a Leeds-Israel Innovation Healthtech Gateway.

Another of the partnerships to have been developed is between Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Trust (RDaSH) and Israeli tech company Taliaz. Their new collaboration will see UK patients’ mental health treatment supported by Taliaz’s artificial intelligence (AI) software platform PREDICTIX. This offers clinical decision support tools and patient management for psychiatrists and GPs.

Taliaz is the first company to move forward rapidly in the UK as a result of Grounded Research’s participation in a delegation from the NHSA to Biomed Israel earlier this year. Combining medical science with AI, PREDICTIX translates complex genetic, demographic and clinical patient data into time-saving and cost-saving assessment, management and prescribing support tools for healthcare providers. PREDICTIX improves first-time prescribing success, both saving time and costs for the NHS mental health services.

The new collaboration addresses the NHSA’s delegation’s aim to explore trends and breakthrough technologies with Israeli companies that have the potential to shape the future of the healthcare system, particularly in the world of mental health. The commercial partnership will allow for the integration of PREDICTIX into the NHS, and to improve mental health assessment and management. The Biomed Israel delegation was jointly organised by the Israel Foreign Trade Administration (FTA), the UK-Israel Tech Hub and the NHSA.

The need for innovation and vital investment in mental health across the North of England has recently been shown by the NHSA’s Parallel Pandemic report, which found that mental health in the North was significantly worse than the rest of England over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, with a £2 billion cost to the country.

Grounded Research Assistant Director, Heather Rice, said: “We are delighted to announce this collaboration. We hope, in time, it will make a real difference to the ability of professionals to prescribe immediately and effectively at the point of care. We are especially pleased that the collaboration will be putting mental health on the map in this exciting and innovative area of medicine, potentially revolutionising mental health assessment and management.“

“The World Health Organization estimates that there is a four-fold return on digital solutions for mental health in improved health and productivity”, said Dekel Taliaz, CEO and Co-founder of Taliaz. “This new partnership, focussing on improving the effectiveness and utility of mental health prescribing, has the potential to help hundreds of thousands of patients in the RDaSH area and a population of 17 million in the North of England alone. We are looking forward to expanding our efforts in the UK.”

Ben Martyn continued: “This collaboration between Taliaz and RDaSH is recognition of the amazing clinical and research strengths we have here in the North of England and, specifically, the excellence of the grounded research team. Taliaz’s innovative solution will deliver real benefits for patients here and shows that there is global interest in investing in the North. The NHSA will continue to bring cutting-edge solutions to health problems to the UK and keep the North firmly as a global leader in the research, development and evaluation of health technologies.”

The links between the North of England and Israel have been further developed thanks to another new initiative developed through its relationship with the IIA. A challenge has been put out to innovative Israeli companies to collaborate with NHSA members to solve key healthcare challenges. Part of the International Health Tech Partnership Programme, with the IIA, HealthIL, the Healthcare Innovation Ecosystem in Israel, NHSA member organisations are supported to select Israeli start-ups of interest and bid for project funding to run R&D or pilot projects.

The organisations will act as real-world living laboratories for the companies to test and improve an existing process, service, or product; or to apply a new process to healthcare for the first time.

Ronit Applebaum, Healthcare Innovation Sector Lead of the UK Israel Tech Hub, said: “We are delighted to be working on an excellent initiative to enable Israeli companies to develop, test, adapt and optimise impactful health technologies, at world-renowned hospitals in the North of England.

“Our partnership with the NHSA is going from strength to strength, thanks to our shared values, a passion for excellence and driving forward innovation to improve healthcare. We look forward to reviewing the applications and taking the project to the next stage.”

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