LEAP (Leadership, Engagement, Acceleration & Partnership), a groundbreaking Digital Health Hub, has launched to catalyse innovation, research, and collaboration in the South West of England and Wales. Funded by the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and led by the University of Bristol, the £4.11 million hub is set to revolutionise the region's digital health landscape.
Bringing together five leading regional universities, including the University of Bristol, University of Bath, the University of the West of England (UWE), Cardiff University, and the University of Exeter (including NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South West Peninsula [PenARC]), along with Health Data Research UK (HDR UK), LEAP aims to build on the strengths of each of the Hub’s institutional partners to offer unique opportunities for training, research, and partnership in digital health.
Alongside the core institutional partners, LEAP's partnership network extends to 21 supporting companies nationally, seven NHS Trusts & Health Boards, four social care organisations, five Local Authorities, Health Innovation West of England, and the award-winning business incubator SETsquared. The Hub’s objectives have been co-produced by its partner network – surfacing unmet health and care needs, shaping and nurturing new collaborative research projects that bring together new partnerships of industry, academia, patients, carers and healthcare professionals. By engaging with local communities, the region’s health and social care organisations, and with industry partners nationally, LEAP aims to lead and shape the international agenda in digital health.
Over three years, the Hub will deliver a unique portfolio of training as part of its Skills and Knowledge Programme, leveraging the expertise from LEAP’s university partners, including the UK’s only Centre for Doctoral Training in Digital Health and Care at the University of Bristol.