Welcome to the Health Matters’ case studies series, where we will be speaking to the business leaders who have successfully used our programme to take their product or service to new heights in the health and care sectors.
In today’s blog, we catch up with Antony Shimmin, Senior Business Development Manager at AIMES. Founded in 2005, AIMES specialise in providing bespoke cloud solutions to the NHS, Academia and Industry. AIMES also focuses on the development of new and innovative AI/ML techniques to be used in the delivery of healthcare.
How did your company find out about the Health Matters programme?
We discovered the Health Matters programme through the Innovation Agency, who we have a long and successful relationship with.
What challenges was your company facing prior to receiving support? What do you think the main barriers are for using emerging technology?
The identification of appropriate funding routes and identifying regulatory approval workstreams can be especially challenging. The main barriers for using emerging technologies are achieving its adoption amongst thought leaders and ensuring that the service has support prior to being integrated directly into clinical care. Training and compatibility with IT systems can also pose potential issues.
What support did your company receive and how was it delivered?
The Innovation Agency assisted with bid preparation, evaluation and have subsequently helped support our commercialisation, regulatory approval efforts and Patient and Public Engagement. This was delivered through a number of conference calls and meetings with the Innovation Agency directly or people in their network which they put us in contact with.
What new activity was your company able to do as a result of the support?
The support enabled us to develop a workstream focused on delivering AI into routine clinical care, identify other use cases that OpenCARE (our cloud solution) could address within the LCR Research Community and address PPI concerns within the project.
What impact did the support have?
The support from LCR Health Matters provided increased confidence in our decision making and highlighted areas of concern that we needed to address. It also ensured that the budget was allocated effectively.
What are your company’s plans for the future as a result of this support?
As a result of the support from LCR Health Matters, we aim to create a potential spin out, or new division in the business focusing on the delivery of new artificial intelligence algorithms into routine clinical care.
We have also identified that artificial intelligence has a seemingly endless number of applications within healthcare environments, ranging from deep learning for clinical research to predictive algorithms for preventative medicine.
Given the continuous overexertion of clinically-orientated resources within the NHS, AIMES believes that there are a multitude of other areas in which the time/cost-efficiency benefits synonymous with AI technology could be utilised. The main draw of this technology is its ability to free up the time of healthcare professionals. This surplus time could subsequently be reinvested into more patient-facing areas to optimise care delivery. Based on this fundamental idea, AIMES are continuing to develop supervised learning algorithms to automate clinical practices within healthcare environments.
The Health Matters programme was part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund to support local businesses, with innovative solutions, to access the health and care markets.
By providing bespoke, one-on-one assistance, we help businesses hone their products and services. Through real-world validation we demonstrate their practical and commercial benefits.
