It’s widely acknowledged that businesses in the Adult Health and Social Care sector have been some of the hardest hit following the challenges of the pandemic and Brexit. 

As such, West Sussex County Council has prioritised funding for small and medium-sized (no more than 249 employees) businesses to receive specific innovation support to recover and boost growth.

If you are …

• a leader or senior manager in the Adult Health and Social Care sector with responsibility to drive innovation in the business
• determined to recover and grow following the challenges of Brexit and the pandemic
• looking to create a new, or adapt an existing, service, product or business model
• a small or medium-sized business based in West Sussex

…then this completely free programme could be for you!

Developed in partnership with West Sussex health care groups and Kent, Surrey and Sussex Academic Health Science Network (AHSN), this new programme has been designed to provide you with sector specific insights and innovate tools to help you turn challenges into market advantages.  

Through a series of masterclasses and workshops, online and in-person sessions, we will share the latest insights and expert knowledge from university academia and industry partners on cutting-edge med-tech solutions to support the challenges facing providers and suppliers in the sector.

The Programme – Starting September 2022

Further details will be available at the ‘Introduction to Innovation in Adult Health and Social Care’ launch event in September.

The programme will be delivered through a mix of FREE to attend, online and in person masterclasses and workshops in the following areas:

• Overcoming inequalities in Health/Social Care 
• Maintaining Healthy Ageing: being active and being healthy at work 
• Enabling social connectedness for ageing population and adults with additional needs 
• Preventing social isolation and digital exclusion
• Designing for better independent living – Smart homes and Internet of Caring Things
• Management of long term health conditions: obesity, heart conditions, cancer, dementia 
• Utilising AI and automated data analysis in health and social care
• Net Zero and decarbonising services
• Using Universities to test and commercialise new ideas – accessing expertise and funding

Register your interest in this FREE programme and we will send you an invitation to the launch event and share details of the full workshop programme dates when confirmed.

Action Learning Sets

The programme will also include two Action Learning Sets to support participants with the challenges and ideas arising from the sessions.

Action learning is a specific process where individuals get together with a facilitator to share business and organisational challenges and get the benefit of pooled advice and expertise from peers.

Access up to £5000 to support your project development

The programme culminates with an opportunity to further explore new business ideas and opportunities through a research and development project, working with subject experts from the university of Brighton or Sussex, to the value of up to £5000, at no cost to the business.

Through our funding we can directly pay for the time of our top academics in the areas of expertise you need to work directly on your projects. It’s a simply process that includes our Innovation Advisors working with you to scope your project and map the skills and expertise needed -with the unique opportunity of having access to two pools university experts to choose from.

Please note: The Access to Expertise part of this programme is only available for eligible SMEs based in West Sussex.  .

How does the Horizon programme work?

Our Horizons programme is a series of inspiring, thematic and sector specific workshops, created to share cutting-edge research and insights to help develop innovative approaches that will enable you to build resilience to national and global challenges within your business.

1. Call launched
2. Attend an introductory webinar on the theme
3. Complete 12 hours or more of our thematic workshops to gain deeper insight
4. Book a free innovation audit or assessment with our advisors to explore your ideas
5. Scope your project based on new knowledge and understanding
6. Apply for Access to Expertise support
7. Advisors source university expertise and develop the project brief
8. Project undertaken; innovation activated

If you would like to know more about Horizons or if you have any questions about the RISE project, you can get in touch with the team at rise@brighton.ac.uk