On 27th March 2025, the Forum for Mental Health Technology Innovators was held at the Liver Building in Liverpool's waterfront.
The event was a huge success, with our feedback form indicating that 95% of attendees made new connections that could lead to further meetings, discussions or actions. The average event satisfaction score was 4.79 out of 5. A massive 100% of respondents found that the event gave them a better understanding of the mental health innovation landscape.
Among many take home messages for the day, attendees were encouraged to stay in touch with the Forum, and to make use of the LinkedIn Group which attendees could join. Innovators looking to partner with academic researchers in the NIHR MH-TRC Mental Health Mission are encouraged to make contact with the Industry Engagement Manager for medtech and digital technologies, Dr Jake Andrews.
Many outputs were gathered on the day, including videos, photos, and notes from group discussions on unmet clinical needs in mental health. The organising team are working to process these outputs and pull these together for sharing with the wider community. In the meantime, we have put together a summary of the day for those who were not able to attend.
In the first talk of the day, Prof Jeremy Hall gave an overview of the Mental Health Mission, illuminating the different specialisms and expertise collaborating across universities and healthcare trusts, led by the University of Oxford and Oxford Health, and gave a overview of the shared vision to increase research on mental health interventions in the UK.
Dr Matteo Cella (above) next explained to us the importance of slow progress when it comes to digital health innovation, and warned against a fast, rushed approach which has been seen to end in failure. Matteo gave us examples including technologies which have found their market internationally before reaching implementation in the UK's NHS, reflecting on some of the difficulties this can present.
In our workshop session, in groups, we began to exchange understandings of the unmet needs in mental health, and how companies are beginning to address these. A fuller summary of these discussions will be shared on our LinkedIn group once prepared.
During the break and lunch sessions, there were demonstrations from a range of innovators, including VR-based therapeutic games and experiences, mental health-related video games, VR immersive videos to foster understanding of mental health conditions, and systems to monitor and assess symptoms of mental health conditions. A full list of demonstrators and website links is provided below.
Before lunch, Mat Rawsthorne, health service user researcher and codesign facilitator, gave us an overview of some of the good practice he has seen in his interactions with digital health companies, and pointed out areas with room for improvement. Dr Jake Andrews then set out how the NIHR MH-TRC Mental Health Mission can work with innovators to develop their products and services, and outlined some advice for those seeking academic partnerships about how to approach researchers for collaboration. Finally, Dr Tom Searle, CEO of Cogstack, explained how their company is developing software capable of accurately sifting patient record free text notes using a form of AI to identify patients suitable for trials and for epidemiological purposes.
The second keynote of the day was presented by Manjul Rathee (above), CEO of BfB Labs, who gave us a heart-felt insight into the journey that led her to becoming a successful founder with a digital therapeutic game (LumiNova) implemented in the NHS and recommended by NICE.
The event was supported by the Health Innovation Network, and representatives of three local Networks attended: Health Innovation Network North West Coast, Health Innovation East Midlands, and Health Innovation Network South London. The North West Coast group gave us a presentation about the activities the HIN covers and how innovators can connect with their local HIN (though it was also emphasised that any HIN can help any company based anywhere). As well as help to navigate the NHS, the HIN can provide sign-posting to resources, support evidencing real-world impact, development of business cases and provide implementation support and advice for adopting organisations.
We next had a panel where reflections were made on the content of the day so far.
The final session of the day gave an overview of some of the work of the NIHR HealthTech Research centre for Mental Health (MindTech, Nottingham) and the Mental Health Research for Innovation Centre (M-RIC, Liverpool), covering past success stories where the two centres have collaborated with companies, and outlining the infrastructure that could support research, for example the Count Me In initiative in Liverpool, meaning Mersey Care staff can reach out to a wide group of patients to invite them to take part in research on an opt-out basis.