The Government has announced a competition offering £4m funding for businesses to address the nation's biggest health problems.
The Department of Health has opened two competitions with up to £2 million of funding each to develop technological solutions to reduce the impact of obesity and alcohol related diseases or improve the number of patients taking their medication as prescribed.
Obesity and Alcohol related diseases currently cost the NHS over £7 billion each year and between 6-10 % of all hospital admissions could be preventable if prescription medication was taken correctly.
Businesses are invited to come up with innovative solutions to these challenges.
Sir David Nicholson, Chief Executive of the NHS said:
"Investing in innovation is vital for a modern and efficient NHS- it will benefit the patient, the taxpayer and UK plc.
"The Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) is a key part of the Innovation, Health and Wealth agenda, which aims to spread innovation throughout the NHS.
"These competitions provide vital funding for businesses to explore, develop and test new technology before it becomes commercially available."
The competitions will be run through the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) process and are open to all organisations not just those in the health sector. The competitions will be managed by NHS London and NHS Midlands and East.
Lord Howe the Health Ministersaid: "Technology and innovation have an important role to play in helping to address the healthcare challenges facing the NHS.
"Today's competitions provide an opportunity to develop highly innovative solutions for some of the biggest health problems of our time and we look forward to seeing the results."
