NIHR Innovation Observatory: Supporting global innovation and advancement in healthcare

The NIHR Innovation Observatory looks after the largest set of health data in the world - information which is crucial for supporting businesses in the health and care sector worldwide.

With an 80-strong team based at the Catalyst in Newcastle Helix, NIHR Innovation Observatory uses horizon scanning - a method that systematically identifies and analyses signs of significant developments in the health and life sciences sector - to provide data-driven insights that can support innovation and access to the best quality of care.

“NIHR Innovation Observatory is the national horizon scanning centre for health and life sciences. We're headquartered in Newcastle, but we're national and, in fact, global,” says Dawn Musgrave, Industry Partnership Lead at NIHR Innovation Observatory, “We have the largest healthcare data set in the world.”

The Observatory works with the government, universities, the NHS and various institutions to examine, interpret and use data to understand what emerging technologies may be coming to market and where innovations can be used for wider applications.

For Dawn, data and AI are fundamental to supporting life-changing developments in healthcare: "AI can be an impact for positive change. If you look at some of the advancements in health tech: using AI to go through patient records and pull out prompts and to synthesise information and patient records.

“Obviously that’s heavily regulated and scrutinised, but it’s just an example of how AI can make us more productive and efficient."

It is through this horizon scanning that the organisation is able to make informed forecasts about possible future trends in the industry, understanding where and when individual pockets of innovation may spark global advancements.

As well as transforming the global landscape of healthcare and life sciences, NIHR Innovation Observatory is also leading the way when it comes to tackling one of the biggest concerns around artificial intelligence: identifying misinformation and inaccuracies.

"One of the methods that the Innovation Observatory is expert in is evidence synthesis,” Dawn explains, “Which is basically checking the source of the data and any evidence to make sure that the source is a robust source, and that it's open and honest and it has integrity."

"Even though we can't rely on AI to predict the future, [evidence synthesis is] a tool that we use to support our predictions and horizon scanning."

As Dawn explains, the potential of horizon scanning to support business growth is huge - beyond the healthcare and life sciences industries - and should not be underestimated.

"If you're an SME that's either starting out or looking to grow, you can actually go into the reports yourself, analyse them, see what the trends are, what the signals are, what's being developed in the market, who's developing what,” she concludes, “The insights can provide you with a free business support tool."

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