Propel@YH, commissioned by the Yorkshire & Humber AHSN (Academic Health Science Networks) digital health accelerator, last week announced its 10-company 2020 cohort, to start on 26 October. They are:

• Co-Opts ltd; a smart speaker for automated recording, transcription and summarisation of therapy sessions
• CyberLiver Ltd; remote monitoring of at-risk cirrhosis patients using wearables and an app
• I.M.M.E; a VR experience created to support Williams syndrome, supporting isolation, rehab mobility and mental health
• Liria Digital Health; a technological solution addressing the health and wellbeing of perimenopausal, menopausal, and postmenopausal people
• My Food 24; an online food diary system which automates the diet tracking and analysis process
• SeeAI; a platform that supports early fracture diagnosis through x-ray images 
• Ufonia Ltd; an AI-enabled accessible clinical assistant called Dora that can conduct an intelligent clinical conversation via a regular voice telephone call
• Vastmindz; an AI face analysis app to measure real-time heart and respiration rates, oxygen saturation, stress level, blood pressure and atrial fibrillation risk
• Warner Patch; a non-invasive, wearable wireless (using 2G network) sensor that predicts tissue health disease evolution using AI for clinicians to give preventive care, improve patient outcome and save care costs
• Written Medicine; a pharmacy label and discharge summary translation system, that works across 11 different languages

Propel@YH is designed to attract international digital health companies to the Yorkshire/Leeds area. The AHSN is one of 15 innovation centers acting as the innovation arm of NHS England. Partners in the program include Nexus (University of Leeds’ academic research and tech development community), Barclays Eagle Labs (business incubation/networking/investment), Hill Dickinson (legal and strategic advice), and Leeds City Council. 

Neville Young, Director of Enterprise and Innovation for the Yorkshire & Humber AHSN, said: “This is the second time we’ve been able to offer this great opportunity for innovative digital and data-driven health companies and we were truly blown away by the innovation and talent presented by this year’s shortlist. Our panel had a tough choice choosing our finalists from this year’s entries but we think the mix of businesses and applications we will be working with this year really will play a part in supporting the NHS and healthcare providers throughout the pandemic and the ‘new normal’ ways of working.”  YHAHSN press release