Accelerating the spread of proven innovation across the NHS
We bring together innovators, healthcare organisations, patients, and system leaders to accelerate the adoption of solutions that improve care, support staff, and strengthen services.
Since 2015, the programme has supported innovations that are already demonstrating impact in real-world settings, helping them reach more patients, clinicians, and organisations across England.
About us
Every year, new technologies, services, pathways, and models of care are developed to improve outcomes and address some of the most pressing challenges facing the health system. Yet many proven innovations struggle to spread beyond their original setting.
The NIA was established in 2015 to help bridge the gap between innovation and adoption.
By supporting both innovators and health systems, we help ensure that effective solutions do not remain isolated examples of success but become part of routine practice where they can deliver the greatest benefit.
Our role is to help make innovation work in the real world, ensuring proven solutions can reach the people and places that need them most.
A national partnership
We are funded by NHS England and delivered by UCLPartners in collaboration with the 15 Health Innovation Networks.
This national partnership enables the programme to combine strategic leadership with local delivery, helping innovations move more effectively between policy, practice, and implementation.
Together, we create opportunities for innovators to connect with healthcare organisations while supporting systems to discover and adopt solutions that address local and national priorities.
Built on trust
We provide a trusted route to identifying and supporting innovations that are ready to scale. Every innovation selected for the programme has undergone a rigorous assessment process that considers: clinical evidence, real-world impact, commercial viability, implementation readiness, and potential for wider adoption across the health and care system.
This robust approach gives healthcare organisations confidence that the innovations within the NIA portfolio have been independently assessed and demonstrate genuine potential for broader impact.
For innovators, it provides recognition that their solution has reached an important stage of maturity and readiness for scale.
Our governance
We are governed through a Programme Board that provides strategic oversight and operational assurance.
Our governance structure brings together expertise from across healthcare, academia, innovation, industry, and patient communities. This ensures the programme remains accountable, transparent, and aligned with the priorities of patients, healthcare professionals, and the wider health and care system.
Strong governance helps us maintain the independence, credibility, and quality that underpin the programme.
Patient and public involvement
We believe innovations are most successful when they are informed by the experiences of the people who use and deliver healthcare services.
Patient representatives contribute across every stage of the programme, from governance and strategic decision-making to the assessment and selection of new fellows.
In addition, all fellows receive support to strengthen their approach to patient and public involvement, helping ensure lived experience informs how innovations are developed, adopted, and scaled.
By embedding patient voices throughout the programme, we help create solutions that are effective, equitable, and grounded in real-world needs.
Our partners
