Mayors create healthtech bridge that spans the Atlantic
West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin has signed a co-operation partnership agreement with Nashville, Tennessee, which will hopefully boost West Yorkshire’s health technology sector.
The creation of a ‘Healthtech Bridge’, connecting both sides of the Atlantic, will deepen cooperation on trade, investment and knowledge sharing as well as creating a partnership between the two regions’ businesses, universities, chambers of commerce and regional government authorities.
Brabin and Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell are hopeful it will help encourage the flow of trade, investment and knowledge sharing between the two regions.
The Mayor of West Yorkshire, said: “This ground-breaking new partnership with Nashville will deliver real results at home: New jobs, more investment and better care for patients.
“It’s a major vote of confidence in West Yorkshire, and a testament to the strength of our healthtech sector, the talent in our universities and the innovation of our businesses.
“By working together, our great regions will reignite growth and transform the lives of patients worldwide, as we work to build a stronger, brighter West Yorkshire that works for all.”
O’Connell added: “I am excited to collaborate with West Yorkshire in a way that will improve health outcomes for residents of both cities.
“Nashville has a strong history of work and innovation in the health care sector, and a partnership with excellent minds overseas ensures that will continue to flourish.”
The ‘Healthtech Bridge’ will see the UK and USA working together to overcome shared healthcare challenges through the use of technology. In West Yorkshire, healthtech firms have pioneered new products to support cancer patients during chemotherapy (Paxman Scalp Cooling), new software to speed up response times for paramedics (Dedalus), and new blood tests that use AI to predict the likelihood of a patient having cancer as a percentage (PinPoint Data Science).
In addition to supporting patients in the NHS and worldwide, investing in healthtech also presents a significant economic opportunity for the region. West Yorkshire’s Investment Zone will see the Mayor work collaboratively with the region’s universities in Leeds, Bradford and Huddersfield, to drive investment, growth, and solutions to real world problems.
The hope is, over the next five years, the West Yorkshire Healthtech and Digital Tech Investment Zone will create more than 2,500 new jobs and unlock more than £220m of private investment.
