Devices for Dignity: The NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in long term conditions

What Devices for Dignity: The NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in long term conditions does

Devices for Dignity is the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) HealthTech Research Centre focused on long-term conditions. It is hosted within the NHS by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and operates as a public-sector research and innovation support centre rather than a commercial enterprise. Its core function is to act as a catalyst for the development of innovative medical devices, healthcare technologies, and technology-dependent interventions aimed at helping people with long-term health conditions maintain independence and dignity.

The centre organises its work around four clinical themes — Diabetes, Long-Term Neurological Conditions, Women's Health, and Kidney Care — supported by cross-cutting themes covering methodological innovation, mental health and wellbeing, pathways to implementation and impact, and rehabilitation, assistive and restorative technologies. It collaborates with a network of more than 30 NHS trusts and more than 20 universities, alongside health charities, medtech industry partners, clinicians, academics, and patient and public representatives. Engagement with industry is delivered through a published collaboration request form, and the centre runs the Healthcare Science Innovation Fellowships Programme for qualified Healthcare Scientists in NHS England and Wales.

The business model is non-commercial: funding flows from NIHR and research collaboration rather than customer pricing or product sales. The stated offering consists of collaborative innovation support services — clinical expertise, NHS clinical access, research infrastructure, patient and lived-experience engagement, and academic partnerships — consumed by clinicians and academics, industry partners, charities, and Healthcare Science Fellows. No revenue, headcount, funding-round, patent, or proprietary-technology data is disclosed in the source material.

Name

Devices for Dignity: The NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in long term conditions

Legal name

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Website

https://devicesfordignity.org.uk

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Devices for Dignity is the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre for long-term conditions, hosted within Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It supports the development of innovative medical devices and health technologies across diabetes, neurology, women's health, and kidney care via partnerships with 30+ NHS trusts, 20+ universities, charities, and industry.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Healthcare Research Services

NAICS

Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (54171)

SIC

Services-Health Services (8000)

akta.pro primary industry

Global Health Research, Evidence & Technical Assistance Organizations (HLAJAKAN)

akta.pro secondary industry

Biomedical Sciences & Medical Research Institutes (University-Based) (EDAHAGAI)

Keywords

• Health technology research
• Medical device innovation
• Clinical research collaboration
• Long-term condition care
• Healthcare innovation support

Headquarters

HQ city

Sheffield

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

An NHS-hosted HealthTech Research Centre that acts as a catalyst for the development of innovative medical devices, healthcare technologies and technology-dependent interventions for people with long-term health conditions. It facilitates collaborative innovation support across four clinical themes (Diabetes, Long-Term Neurological Conditions, Women's Health, and Kidney Care), connecting NHS trusts, universities, clinicians, academics, patients, charities, and industry partners to translate research into real-world health technologies.

Product overview

Devices for Dignity is a single unified research centre (The NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in long term conditions) hosted within the NHS (Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust). It serves as a catalyst for medical device and healthcare technology development rather than offering discrete product modules. The centre focuses on four clinical themes (Diabetes, Long-Term Neurological Conditions, Women's Health, and Kidney Care) supported by cross-cutting methodological and implementation themes. Its offering consists of collaborative innovation support services, working with patients, clinicians, academics, industry partners, and charities to develop technologies that help people with long-term conditions live well for longer.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Devices for Dignity HealthTech Research Centre An NHS-hosted research centre providing collaborative innovation support for the development of innovative medical devices, healthcare technologies, and technology-dependent interventions aimed at helping people with long-term health conditions live well for longer. Offered to NHS trusts, universities, medtech industry partners, charities, and patient groups across four clinical themes.
• Healthcare Science Innovation Fellowships Programme A fellowship programme offered to qualified Healthcare Scientists with at least one year of post-qualification experience working within the NHS in England and Wales, providing career development opportunities in healthcare science innovation.

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHosts Devices for Dignity as the HealthTech Research Centre in long-term conditions. Provides clinical infrastructure, facilities, and NHS operational framework for the research centre's activities.
• NHS Trusts (30+)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEstablished relationships with over 30 NHS trusts across England and Wales, providing clinical expertise, research settings, and patient access for technology development projects.
• Universities (20+)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborating with over 20 universities to support academic research, innovation development, and technology transfer in health technologies for long-term conditions.
• Health CharitiescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with health charities to ensure technologies developed are fit for purpose and address real patient needs, working with lived experience groups and underserved communities.
• Industry PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMedtech and healthcare technology companies that collaborate with the centre to benefit from expertise in medtech innovation and access to NHS clinical settings for technology development.

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• The Health Foundation: An independent UK charity focused on improving health and healthcare through research, policy, and improvement programmes. It is comparable as a major UK health research funding and analysis organisation with overlapping chronic-disease priorities, but is a broader incumbent operating across the health system rather than within medtech R&D.
• Medical Research Council (MRC): A UK government research council that funds biomedical and health research across universities and institutes. It is comparable to Devices for Dignity as a UK public-sector health research funding body, but is a far broader incumbent covering all medical research rather than a single HealthTech-focused centre.
• Wellcome Trust: A large UK-based independent foundation that funds health and biomedical research across a far broader portfolio than Devices for Dignity. It is comparable as a major UK health research funder shaping the same ecosystem, but operates at much greater scale and across all of science, not a single clinical specialty.

Emerging players

• UK Biobank: A large-scale UK biomedical database and research resource enabling population health and chronic disease studies. It is comparable to Devices for Dignity as a UK-based health research infrastructure asset frequently used to evidence long-term condition technologies, though its role is data infrastructure rather than device development.

Direct peers

• NIHR Mental Health Tech Research Centre: An NHS-hosted NIHR HealthTech Research Centre focused on mental health technologies. It is a direct peer because both centres share the same NIHR HRC structure, NHS host-infrastructure model, and mission of catalysing medical device and health technology development.
• NIHR Surgical HealthTech Research Centre: Another NHS-hosted NIHR HealthTech Research Centre operating under the same funding and governance model as Devices for Dignity, but focused on surgical technologies. It is a direct peer because both serve as the NIHR's designated national front door for medtech development in their respective clinical specialty areas.

Others

• Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC): A UK government research council funding engineering and physical sciences research, including health technology development at universities. It is an ecosystem enabler for HealthTech R&D comparable in spirit to Devices for Dignity's mission, but operates as a broad funder rather than as a device-development centre.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Devices4Dignity
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/nihr-devices-for-dignity-hrc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Devices for Dignity: The NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in long term conditions