MedTech and In Vitro Diagnostic Cooperatives - support for industry

On this page, you will find information about our MedTech and In Vitro Diagnostic Cooperatives (MICs) which help medical device, diagnostic and healthtech companies to develop, evaluate and validate new medical technology and In Vitro Diagnostic (IVD) tests.

Help to develop your medical device or technology for the NHS

MICs are centres of excellence co-located in leading NHS organisations and universities across England that accelerate the development of healthcare technologies to improve the effectiveness and quality of health and care services.

We help medical device, digital technology and diagnostic companies (collectively known as MedTech) to develop new innovative medical technologies and provide evidence on commercially supplied IVDs. This includes help to generate the evidence to demonstrate financial value (health economics) or improve operational efficiency in the NHS (real-world evidence generation).

We also help non-life science companies, such as software developers and digital companies, that are working on healthcare solutions.

We have established 11 MICs, each with a distinct therapeutic focus, to bring together the life sciences industry, patients, carers, the NHS, researchers, commissioners and investors. Through our MICs, we can provide:

• Expertise
  Unrivalled access to world-leading medical diagnostics expertise and extensive clinical networks.
• State-of-the-art facilities
  Access to specialist equipment relevant to distinct specialisms such as a sleeping unit, a surgical theatre simulation suite, a gait analysis lab and a neuroimaging suite.
• Advice
  Advice on the suitability of new technologies and the evidence required to support their commercial uptake. This includes advice on device design, patient care pathway analysis, clinical evaluation, health economics, site identification, patient recruitment and regulatory advice.
• Collaboration
  Help to broker collaborations between industry and clinical practice to test new technologies in community settings. We can help you to build a multi-disciplinary team to work collaboratively with you to ensure you generate the evidence you need to support the adoption of your medical technology into the NHS.
• Patient and public involvement
  Public contributors are at the centre of our MICs, helping to steer and govern our work to ensure it is relevant to patients and carers. Each MIC has a PPIE lead to support companies in their product design, development and to support patient engagement and recruitment.
• Study delivery
  In-house delivery of clinical trials, health economics, health informatics, multidisciplinary pathology capabilities, and generation of high quality evidence to demonstrate the benefits of your product.

The NIHR MICs launched on 1 January 2018, with more than £14 million awarded across 11 NIHR MICs over 5 years until 2022 (extended to March 2024). The MICs are shown in the map on this page and are listed here: 

• NIHR Brain Injury MedTech Co-operative
• NIHR Cardiovascular MedTech Co-operative
• NIHR Children and Young People MedTech Co-operative
• NIHR Community Healthcare MedTech and In Vitro Diagnostics Co-operative
• NIHR Devices for Dignity MedTech Co-operative
• NIHR Leeds In Vitro Diagnostics Co-operative
• NIHR London In Vitro Diagnostics Co-operative
• NIHR Mental Health MedTech Co-operative
• NIHR Newcastle In Vitro Diagnostics Co-operative
• NIHR Surgical MedTech Co-operative
• NIHR Trauma Management MedTech Co-operative

If you are interested in working with the NIHR MICs or would like more information, please get in touch with us.