Applications Are Now Open in the UK for the AWS Healthcare Accelerator Programme

By Dr. Rowland Illing DM MRCS FRCR, Director & Chief Medical Officer, International Public Sector Health, AWS

The United Kingdom (UK) healthcare system’s acceleration of innovation in service delivery, along with its increased adoption of digitally-enabled, secure, and compliant solutions through the Covid-19 crisis has brought about great benefit for patients. Embracing digital health innovations has enabled the NHS to deliver a world-leading vaccination programme showing their inherent talent and collaborative, patient-centric capacity to transform at pace. Now, their focus moves to tackling backlogs in elective care, continuing to implement the NHS Long Term Plan, and focusing on transformation of services to support NHS resilience. At the same time, the health and care system is seeking to optimise the proliferating volume of healthcare data to further improve patient outcomes and operational decisions.

To support both high-potential healthcare startups and the UK healthcare system’s demand for these types of solutions, we are excited to announce the launch of the AWS Healthcare Accelerator programme in the UK.

AWS Healthcare Accelerator

The AWS Healthcare Accelerator is a four-week technical, business, and mentorship accelerator opportunity, open to UK-based healthcare startups or international healthcare startups that have existing UK operations. AWS will deliver the AWS Healthcare Accelerator programme in the UK in collaboration with PUBLIC, a leading government-focused technology company, who bring experience in delivering accelerator programmes, a strong network of healthcare startups, and an international presence.

The cohort of 10 healthcare startups with an established product-market fit and existing customers and revenue, who seek to use AWS to help solve the biggest challenges in the healthcare industry, will be selected to participate in this new programme. It is tailored to accelerate growth in the cloud, focusing on innovation in the areas listed below, such as remote patient monitoring, mental health support solutions, care navigation, analytics supporting triage and prioritisation, and workforce productivity tools. Applications open today and must be submitted no later than December 5th.

The goal of the AWS Healthcare Accelerator is to cultivate and promote innovative startup solutions that achieve the Quadruple Aim of improved patient experience, improved clinician experience, better health outcomes, and lower cost of care. In seeking out secure, compliant, data-driven healthcare solutions, AWS will support public sector healthcare enterprises to accelerate their digital transformation.

The AWS Healthcare Accelerator will be open to healthcare startups targeting the following areas:

Citizen Access
Innovative technology offerings to improve citizen access to health and social care services, including digital front door solutions that streamline how citizens access health and social care services, and simplify processes to navigate services across care settings. We are looking for truly citizen-centric innovations, particularly those that promote equity of access.

Elective Care Recovery
Startup solutions to help the NHS with elective care, cancer care services, and management of the increasing demand on mental health services. This includes waitlist management, triage/prioritisation, clinical decision support tools, as well as innovation supporting the diversification of care delivery models outside the hospital setting.

Population Health and Precision Medicine
Digital health products seeking to support the NHS segment, with focus on the prioritisation and delivery of population health and care management initiatives. This includes innovations across the population health value chain, from planning (e.g. population health analytics) to delivery (e.g. technology-enabled clinical intervention programmes). We are also interested in hearing from startups working in clinical genomics research developing tools to provide person-centric care.

Workforce
Innovation aimed at promoting new ways of working that make use of the full range of people’s skills and support the care workforce to improve productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness.

AWS and PUBLIC will select 10 startups to participate in the four-week accelerator that will take place virtually. Selected startups will receive AWS Promotional Credits, specialized AWS training, mentoring from healthcare domain and technical subject matter experts, business development, go-to-market guidance, and investment guidance, and potential proof of concept opportunities with public sector healthcare customers. The programme will bring in healthcare industry leaders to collaborate with startups on topics ranging from defining business models, regulatory pathways, clinical validation, Electronic Health Record integration, and more. There will also be collaboration opportunities with AWS customers and members of the AWS Partner Network looking for innovative healthcare solutions.

Applications will be judged on several factors, including the innovative and unique nature of the project, the overall value the solution will bring to the healthcare industry, the creative application of AWS to solve problems, and the team’s ability to deliver on an identified opportunity. The evidence shows many groups are under-represented in founding and scaling health technology companies. At AWS, we welcome applications from founders of all genders, ethnicities, and backgrounds, who in turn reflect the diversity of people within and served by the UK’s Health and Care system.

Learn more about how to apply to the AWS Healthcare Accelerator and how AWS for Health supports customers and partners. And, see how PUBLIC helps enable healthcare startups to scale and succeed.