University co-leads region’s rehabilitation technologies drive

Academics at the University of Derby are co-leading a project to help drive the design, development and delivery of pioneering rehabilitation technologies.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council has granted £2.5 million of funding for the ‘EMERGE’ project – East Midlands Emerging RehabTech Growth Enterprise – which will launch the region as the UK’s ‘RehabTech Valley’, a leading hub for rehabilitation technologies excellence.

The project, led by Nottingham Trent University, and co-led by the universities of Derby, Nottingham and Loughborough, will be supported by a 30-strong consortium spanning research and innovation, medical and health tech organisations, the NHS, local government and economic development.

It is expected to accelerate innovation into health and care pathways and transform how people recover and regain independence and function following injury or illness.

As people live longer and chronic health conditions increase, the demand for rehabilitation technologies, or ‘RehabTech’, is soaring.

The project will connect the region’s cluster of 459 med-tech SMEs, addressing current challenges around slowing productivity, access to skills, clinical partnerships and private investment.

It will create mechanisms for engagement between businesses, academic, the NHS and patients and speed up the development and availability of RehabTech.

Professor Myra Conway, associate provost – innovation and research at the University of Derby, said: “The University of Derby is delighted to be involved in this ground-breaking project, which is expected to accelerate innovation into health and care pathways.

“It will also put the East Midlands firmly on the map when it comes to rehabilitation and associated technologies such as sensors and imaging, medical device materials, robotics and artificial intelligence, and help to boost the local economy.”

Biomedical and clinical science is one of the university’s six key academic themes, with a brand-new Biomedical Science Lab due to open in 2025 at its Kedleston Road site.

The facility is set to revolutionise the university’s student offer, with an interdisciplinary teaching facility focusing on core elements of biomedical science, including haematology, immunology, histopathology, molecular biology, genetics and cell/tissue culture.