Nihr Innovation Observatory

We are a national horizon scanning centre based at Newcastle University. We use advanced horizon scanning techniques to detect new health innovations and track them. Here at NIHRIO we have 3 core activities: 1. Industry’s gateway to NICE and the NHS. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) provide national guidance for the NHS, through their Technology Appraisals (TA) and Highly Specialised Technologies (HST) process. A NICE recommendation is crucial for market access to the NHS and companies cannot access the NICE process without contacting NIHRIO. We notify NICE about new or repurposed drugs 3 years before UK licence and this early notification allows NICE to provide new technology guidelines as close to the UK licence date as possible. 2. Pipeline analysis Our Pipeline Analysis offers important and immediate intelligence about the future of health technology across numerous disease spaces. Unlike traditional market reports – whose emphasis on market size, share, and valuation can miss larger, ongoing change – the core of a NIHRIO Pipeline analysis highlights the trends in clinical development and examines both their cause and potential impact on healthcare systems. This approach means that our methods are reproducible and address clinically relevant questions. They can be used to steer development reports, inform gaps in ongoing research, address unmet needs, and prepare healthcare systems for upcoming waves of technological innovation. 3. The Imagine Series The Imagine Series is a bespoke patient and public knowledge exchange programme. Devised and coordinated by VOICE, a citizen involvement network, and delivered in collaboration with the UK National Innovation Centre for Ageing (NICA), the series brings together three national centres of excellence with the voice of the people. Using established evidence synthesis methods and world class horizon scanning techniques, our knowledge exchange model provides