Health Innovation: The East of England’s Engine for Growth

In the first of a series of articles with our Members, Health Innovation East, we focus on the value of health and care to the region and how new technologies and innovations can transform economic outcomes for the wider population.

The East of England is often described as the UK’s innovation heartland. From the biotech breakthroughs of Cambridge to the growing life science networks across Norfolk, Suffolk, Hertfordshire, Essex, and Bedfordshire, the region has built a reputation for scientific excellence and enterprise. Yet, if there is one area where this reputation can truly shape the future, cementing the East’s economic and social success, it is health innovation - putting great ideas into practice, at scale, to improve the health of the people and places that benefit most.

A recent report from the Health Innovation Network, Defining the Size of the Health Innovation Prize, makes the case clearly: innovation in health and care is not only about better services, it is also about unlocking economic prosperity. At a national level, reducing ill-health through innovation could generate £246 billion in productivity gains, equivalent to nearly 10% of GDP, and attract an additional £32 billion in foreign direct investment (1). For a region like the East of England, where world-class research meets entrepreneurial drive, the opportunity is both local and global.

Ecosystems matter: from the lab into people’s homes

An innovator’s perspective

For innovators, the East of England offers a fertile testbed. It has a population of 7 million, many of whom live-out their lives in the region. The East is also the biggest net contributor to UK GDP after London and the South East.

In terms of practical support to innovators, Health Innovation East is one of the 15 Health Innovation Networks across England, which receive their core funding from NHS England and the Office for Life Sciences to support the adoption of proven innovations in health and care into the NHS. They also support the UK’s health and life sciences companies to position their products more effectively for the NHS. The Networks have supported thousands of companies, leveraging over £3.1 billion in investment nationally since 2018, and £140 million regionally (2022-2025) (2,3). These organisations are not simply producing new diagnostics or digital tools; as experts in implementing health innovations, they are actively changing how care is delivered.

The impact is tangible: AI-enabled stroke imaging, already rolled out nationally, helps clinicians in acute trusts make faster decisions - saving lives, speeding up recovery and getting more people back to work. FeNO [n.b.  Fractional Exhaled Nitric Oxide] testing and healthy heart checks, simple diagnostic tools for asthma and markers of cardiovascular disease (4), are each reducing unnecessary GP visits, enabling faster treatment and making healthcare more accessible for all.

These are not abstract breakthroughs. They are technologies tested at NHS sites and rolled out across health and care. They are innovations that are changing lives in local communities, shortening recovery times, helping people return to work, and extending healthy life expectancy.

For innovators, the East of England, through Health Innovation East, provides access to NHS partners willing to trial and adopt solutions at scale, alongside academic institutions capable of producing the talent and evidence needed to commercialise them.

Engines for Growth

Image Credit: Phil Mynott

Healthy Heart Checks for all: PocDoc’s fingerprint blood test takes less than 10-minutes and provides a full cholesterol profile. Support from Health Innovation East and its national network contributed to the Cambridge based innovator raising £5m pre-A funding, a thorough real-world evaluation and scaling an evidenced solution into the NHS and also high street pharmacies such as Superdrug.

Ecosystems matter… without the right environment for testing and adoption, even the most promising technologies can falter. By embedding innovation into local systems - supporting clinicians to trial, businesses to adapt and patients to benefit - the East is creating the conditions for sustaining growth and patient impact.

Building a future market

An investor’s perspective

For investors, the message is equally compelling. Health innovation is not just a social good; it is a robust growth sector. The UK already attracts global life sciences investment, but the report makes clear that with a stronger innovation offer, foreign direct investment in health could rise by £32billion (1; p7).

The East is strategically positioned to capture this flow. It is globally recognised for biotech and life sciences, is emerging as a centre for food and health research, and is building healthtech corridors to combine expertise and foster resilience. For investors seeking scale the region’s combination of academic expertise, NHS testbeds and entrepreneurial culture provides a future-proof market.

Health Innovation as a multiplier sector… investments in health innovation don’t operate in isolation; they improve workforce productivity, reduce NHS costs, and increase quality of life. For example, targeted return-to-work interventions for musculoskeletal conditions, one of the biggest drivers of workplace absence, could add £1.2 billion to the economy, while innovations in cardiovascular care e.g. blood pressure optimisation, could generate over £2.3 billion in additional productivity (1; p22). For investors, this means that backing companies in the East is not only profitable, but tied directly to systemic efficiency gains.

Catalysing a national mission

Our region has an essential role to play in shaping the UK’s innovation future. Health innovation sits at the intersection of two of the Government’s most pressing missions: tackling economic inactivity and building an NHS fit for the future. By focusing innovation on four health conditions associated with loss of economic productivity - cardiovascular disease, respiratory illness, mental health, and musculoskeletal disorders (1; p23) - the East can drive both health improvement and economic renewal

Refreshing our health and economy is not just about supporting start-ups or attracting labs. It is also about building an infrastructure for long-term resilience. Data-driven platforms, digital health solutions, AI diagnostics, and preventive care models - all need strong regional ecosystems to thrive. With its universities, hospitals and entrepreneurial base, the region is uniquely placed to provide that ecosystem.

A prize waiting to be claimed

Poor health is one of the UK’s most significant economic drags on productivity, costing billions in lost output and workforce capacity. Since Covid-19 - between the first quarter of 2020 and the second quarter of 2023 - the number of people inactive in the labour market due to long-term illness increased by 470,000 (1; p22). Unless we innovate, that number and its cost to the economy will likely rise.

We can turn this challenge into opportunity. By backing health innovation as core economic infrastructure - just as essential as roads, ports or broadband - the region can position itself at the forefront of a sector that is both recession-proof and globally competitive. The future of the region will be defined not only by the new industries it hosts, but by the problems it helps to solve.

The East of England should act to claim it

For investors, the region presents growth opportunities aligned with long-term demand, where funding delivers financial returns alongside social impact. Supported by health innovation networks (and other regional partners) and driven by a renowned ecosystem, innovators can confidently commit to the region and to landing solutions in people’s homes.

Accompanied by the momentum of previous successes and the flexibility that devolution offers, local government can increasingly support innovation and the wider determinants of public health. Amidst this NHS clinicians and leaders are increasing placed to embed evidence-based innovations for the benefit of their systems and patients alike.

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References

1. Frontier Economics. (2025). Defining the size of the health innovation prize. [Online]. thehealthinnovationnetwork.co.uk. Available at: https://thehealthinnovationnetwork.co.uk/news/healthcare-innovations-could-boost-uk-economy-by-278-b [Accessed 1 September 2025].

2. Health Innovation Network. (2025). The innovation adoption experts. [Online]. healthinnovationnetwork.co.uk. Available at: https://thehealthinnovationnetwork.co.uk/ [Accessed 1 September 2025].

3. Health Innovation East. (2025). The experts in implementing health innovation. [Online]. healthinnovationeast.co.uk. Available at: https://healthinnovationeast.co.uk/ [Accessed 1 September 2025].

4. Health Innovation East. (July 2025). Our impact reviews. [Online]. healthinnovationeast.co.uk. Available at: https://healthinnovationeast.co.uk/new-publication/impact-review-2024-25/ [Accessed 1 September 2025].