Member Article

CGI partners with Dynamo to help grow north east's health tech sector

GLOBAL IT and business services consultancy CGI has partnered with regional tech network Dynamo to grow the north east’s health tech expertise.

Health tech is a booming sector forecast to grow rapidly due to the effects of an ageing population and the NHS’s need to provide new methods of treatment and efficiencies. The Association of British HealthTech Industries claims the sector is the largest employer in the wider life sciences industry, employing nearly 130,000 people in 3,860 companies with a combined turnover of £24bn.

CGI joined Dynamo earlier this year, as part of its ongoing plans to increase its presence in Newcastle and the north east and has now committed further by helping Dynamo with the resources needed to grow the regional health tech cluster over the next 12 months.

Charlie Hoult, Chair at Dynamo, said: “Dynamo are delighted to be partnering with CGI which will help us accelerate our mission to grow the north east’s tech economy. CGI’s health expertise in digital and intelligent care solutions and their desire to grow in the region makes this collaboration a natural choice as we seek to grow the health tech cluster in the region.

“We’re grateful for CGI’s investment, but we’re also delighted that CGI will be very involved with the cluster, with members of the CGI team giving their valuable time to help grow health tech in the region.”

Mark Thompson, CGI’s Director of Consulting Services in the north east, said: “We’re excited by our partnership with Dynamo and look forward to sharing best practice and lessons learned across the region’s health tech sector. CGI already works with health trusts in the region, and we see ourselves as part of the growing eco-system in the north east.

“We will be a genuine partner with Dynamo and have committed to put in the time and resources needed to grow this important sector. We are already working in health care systems across the world, including the US and Sweden, and further growth is a strategic goal for the company over the next 12 months.

“Digitisation and improved technology is becoming increasingly important within the NHS, the NHS Business Service Authority, CCGs and other health bodies and there are a growing number of organisations within the north east responding to that, so it’s understandable CGI has a focus on the region,” he added.

Emma Whitenstall, Cluster Engagement Manager for Health Tech, added: “There are a growing number of organisations within the Dynamo membership and across the region doing really exciting and innovative things in the health tech space. Working with our partners, we aim to open up new opportunities for them, foster cross-sector collaboration between the healthcare sector, academia and industry, while exploiting some of the unique assets that we have in the region such as the National Innovation Centres for Ageing and Data, and Proto. We think what we have here in the north east is special and want to support, grow and promote the region as a leader in health tech.

“One of our first tasks will be to map and research the regional health tech sector so we understand the good work that it already ongoing and assess how we can complement and collaborate with other initiatives,” she added.

CGI works in partnership with Trusts, which are responsible for their own digital transformations, to deliver a full spectrum of digital solutions, in areas including e-Prescribing, intelligent health and care, mobile apps, clinical electronic records and secure content sharing.

Dynamo’s health tech cluster is part-funded by ERDF as part of the Catalysing Innovation In North East Clusters project, delivered by the Innovation SuperNetwork. It will feed into a wider regional agenda led by the NE LEP working in collaboration with the Academic Health Science Network for the North East and Cumbria, NHS Business Services Authority and other key partners.

Dynamo North East is a business-led organisation with the core mission of ‘Growing the north east tech economy through collaboration, innovation, skills and noise.’ With more than 160 members, it is made up of IT organisations, large corporate employers in the region, consultants, technology hubs, education providers, local government and suppliers to the industry.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Dynamo .