The Fellowship
The NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) Fellowship is a three-year programme designed to help proven innovations achieve wider adoption across the health and care system.
Through tailored support, expert guidance, and access to influential networks, the Fellowship helps innovators navigate the complexities of the NHS and accelerate the spread of innovations that improve care, support staff, and strengthen services.
Who is the Fellowship for?
The Fellowship is designed for innovators who have already demonstrated evidence of success and are ready to scale.
Our Fellows come from a diverse range of backgrounds, including: clinical practice, industry, academia, health and care organisations, and social enterprise.
What they share is a commitment to solving healthcare challenges through innovations that have the potential to benefit patients, staff, and health systems at scale.
Every Fellow follows a tailored development journey built around three core pillars: Access, Learn, and Connect.
Access
The Fellowship provides opportunities to engage with NHS leaders, commissioners, policymakers, clinicians, and system partners who can help drive adoption. Fellows also benefit from access to a distinguished network of mentors, national platforms, and opportunities to raise the profile of their innovation across the sector.
By opening the right doors, we help innovators accelerate relationships, build influence, and create opportunities for growth.
Learn
The Fellowship provides structured learning tailored to the realities of NHS adoption.
Through mentoring, workshops, peer learning, and expert insight, Fellows develop the strategic, operational, and leadership skills needed to navigate complexity and achieve sustainable scale.
Areas of support include: NHS adoption pathways, evidence generation and evaluation, commercial strategy, leadership development, stakeholder engagement, scaling and implementation planning.
The result is greater confidence, stronger capability, and a clearer path to impact.
Connect
The Fellowship connects innovators with peers, healthcare organisations, national programmes, and strategic partners across the health and care landscape.
Through a growing community of Fellows and Alumni, as well as connections facilitated by the NIA team and Health Innovation Networks, innovators gain access to collaboration opportunities, implementation partners, and valuable shared learning.
These relationships help transform promising innovations into solutions that achieve widespread reach and adoption.
NIA Mentors
NIA mentors bring expertise from healthcare, academia, entrepreneurship, industry, and the NHS. They provide practical advice, strategic challenge, and independent insight to help Fellows avoid common pitfalls, navigate complexity, and make informed decisions as they scale.
Our Fellows & Alumni
The NIA Fellowship is a community. Fellows become part of a growing network of innovators who continue to share knowledge, create opportunities, and support one another long after their Fellowship ends.
Ready to scale your innovation?
If your innovation is already delivering impact and you are looking for the support, networks, and expertise needed to scale, we encourage you to consider applying to the programme.