ACCELERATE Innovation

ACCELERATE Innovation is a portfolio of initiatives to support innovative thinking and creativity for healthcare innovation.

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Check out ACCELERATE Innovation events and resources below

Would you like to have support with navigating the challenges of medical innovation and translational research?  

Would you like to be mentored by a senior innovation leader in the field?  

Our new mentorship programme will provide a unique opportunity for Early Career Researchers (ECRs) to be supported by one-on-one mentoring with leading medical innovators from the UCL TINs - Therapeutic Innovations Network via the Translational Research Office - TRO. Expert training and resources will be provided throughout the scheme to get the most out of the experience for both mentees and mentors.  

The scheme is a collaboration between ACCELERATE Translational Research Training Programme and UCL TINs.

How and when: The training will be delivered online and will run from July to December 2026.

To apply: check out the web page

This thirteen-week hands on training programme sees you apply knowledge and skills to develop a proposal to solve a real-life translational research challenge of your choosing in an interdisciplinary team. For example, this can be a commercial idea for a healthcare need (e.g. a new product or service) or a way of improving an existing service in a non-commercial setting (e.g. making a hospital process work more efficiently, healthcare data sharing etc) - anything that proposes to improve healthcare.

Participants are placed into interdisciplinary teams around shared interests. As a team, you then develop a proposal for an innovative idea that can be solved by the unique combination of skills and experiences of your team members.

At the end of the programme there is further opportunity to receive non-financial support/support in-kind, to take your team’s proposal forward. The previous four cohorts saw 8 projects awarded a cumulative total of £85,000. 

Target Audience: The Team Challenge is aimed at all healthcare researchers across UCL and the three UCL Biomedical Research Centres, from any discipline and background, from first year post-doctoral fellows upwards. This includes those starting to develop their own research group. Applicants will apply as individuals and be placed into teams based on shared interest.

How: The programme is run both online and in-person consisting a blend of whole cohort sessions, independent teamwork sessions, and team coaching sessions with the programme facilitators. . 

More information

Scheme under review from 2026 until further notice

The workshop will focus on developing an entrepreneurial mind-set and exploring value creation. You will explore the skills needed to be entrepreneurial in research as well as in an enterprise. The workshop will include taught elements, personal and interactive exercises. It will involve an experiential learning approach:

This workshop will help participants to:

  • Start to recognise and use your enterprise skills
  • Develop your own entrepreneurial thinking
  • Generate enterprising ideas using the business model canvas

At the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Develop ideas that create value for others
  • Identify the relationships needed with relevant stakeholders to move an idea forward
  • Set smart goals to progress your idea

Date: TBC

Please register using your UCL/UCLH email address

This workshop will give you an insight into how to spot an opportunity for an enterprise from a given research idea. Using case study-based scenarios, the workshop is designed for you to learn the basics of developing a research-led business idea. 

This workshop will help participants to:

  • Identify the skills required for a leadership team;
  • Recognise enterprise challenges and work with others to find innovative ideas to meet them
  • Understand market influences; and
  • Develop and communicate a business proposition

Date: TBC

Please register using your UCL/UCLH email address

In this 1.5 day workshop, you will learn how to explore and develop your own entrepreneurial skills and how they relate to translating academic research to a non-academic audience.

This workshop will help participants learn how to:

  • Explore your own enterprising skills and how they relate to translating academic research to a non-academic audience
  • Identify ideas for creating value from your research
  • Identify opportunities to translate your research to make an impact for society
  • Develop ideas that create value and make a difference to others
  • Identify and communicate with stakeholders
  • Pitch yourself and your research effectively to a chosen audience

Date: TBC

Please register using your UCL/UCLH email address

To complement the ACCELERATE programme, we have pulled together a list of resources offered by experts at UCL and beyond that focuses on fostering innovative thinking. Check out the links below.

*Disclaimer - These resources have not been produced by UCL and although they have been shared as containing information that may be useful to the Translational Research community, they do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of UCL, ACCELERATE or the Academic Careers Office