At the end of October, UK science minister Patrick Vallance announced the Dementia Patient Flow R&I Challenge. The call is the latest under the government’s flagship £500 million R&D Missions Accelerator Programme.
The government’s challenge, backed with £5m of public money, is for researchers and innovators to step up with bold ideas that will quicken diagnosis and improve patients’ quality of life.
The challenge has three strands, targeting different points along the innovation pipeline. The first supports bringing early-stage technologies to market or scaling them up. The second focuses on developing investable businesses. The third looks to the widespread deployment of new technologies.
There is much to welcome here. The issue is pressing—with 1m people in the UK suffering from dementia—the intervention is thoughtful, and the design is coherent. If successful, the challenge could alleviate a considerable amount of suffering.
The government has clearly drawn on a growing body of research around mission-led innovation. This shows that missions work best when they are sharply defined and ambitious, supported by robust governance, draw on a broad base of expertise, and accept that some failure is inevitable.
Full story: Universities are a natural home for innovation’s riskiest steps – Research Professional News
