Rehabilitation in Leicester and Leicestershire

Sector and market opportunity

There’s an increasing demand for products, technologies and digital solutions that can enable innovative and effective prehabilitation, rehabilitation and chronic disease management within both public and private healthcare settings.

Leicester and Leicestershire can support this demand with their collaborative ecosystems and capabilities along the entire innovation pathway. This is a chance to work with leading academic and clinical research centres including the Leicester Biomedical Research Centre and the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre.

Gain easy, direct access to a large, diverse patient population for your clinical trials and tap into the region’s capabilities in low volume, additive manufacturing and tooling, as well as essential maintenance and technical support services. To commercialise your innovations, you can work with key networks in the region, including the East Midlands Academic Health Science Network.

Growth prospects

There’s a growing demand for technologies, solutions and treatments that address the needs of patients in prehabilitation and rehabilitation, and people suffering with chronic conditions including:

• cardiopulmonary • renal diseases
• diabetes • obesity-related
• mental health conditions

By 2026, the global rehabilitation equipment market will be valued at £23 billion, with a CAGR of 7.8% from 2026.

Location

Leicester and Leicestershire have everything you need:

• a connected rehabilitation ecosystem with incubators and accelerators to support business growth • a leading academic and clinical research base • an easily accessible diverse patient base • expertise in artificial intelligence (AI) and health data

The region sits within a wider cluster of over 1,000 MedTech companies in the East and West Midlands. Also, Charnwood Campus Science Innovation and Technology Park is the UK’s first Life Science Opportunity Zone and offers an environment to inspire discovery, encourage collaboration and accelerate business growth.

Connectivity

Leicestershire is home to East Midlands Airport – the UK’s largest pure cargo airport and chosen as a location for the UK’s only inland freeport, providing unique benefits to importers, exporters and investors.

You’re within a 4-hour drive of 98% of the UK population. Over half a million people work in the area, with a further 2.8 million workers within commuting distance of Leicestershire.

London is only one hour away by rail and you can reach mainland Europe within 4 hours.

Local talent and skills

A talented workforce with 59% of life science employees holding a Certificate of Higher Education. There are over 3,600 people employed in the medtech sector in the region, with a further 6,700 in Nottinghamshire.

Globally ranked universities such as University of Leicester and Loughborough University are offering degrees in relevant courses.

Leicestershire has approximately 18,990 students, who are in key related subjects such as engineering and technology, and biological sciences.

Research and expertise

From fundamental research to commercialisation, Leicester and Leicestershire have everything to take your technologies from concept to market.

The region is home to numerous assets specialising in chronic disease prevention, rehabilitation, regenerative medicine, biomedical imaging, digital health, injury, frailty, digital fabrication, additive manufacturing, human factors and ergonomics.

You can collaborate with places like:

• the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre • the Leicester and Nottingham Biomedical Research Centres • the National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine • the George Davies Centre
• the Centre for Exercise and Rehabilitation Science (CERS) at The University of Leicester.

The Midlands is home to the new £300 million Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre and will soon house the UK’s £90 million National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) for civilian care. Patients in both centres will benefit from the shared expertise, knowledge and facilities.

This makes the Midlands the place to be to drive new rehabilitation products and technologies in the international market.

Local and national government support

MedTech, digital health and rehabilitation are at the heart of UK government strategy.

The Life Sciences Vision builds on the successes of the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy. It aims to build on the scientific successes and ways of working, from responding to coronavirus (COVID-19) to tackling future disease challenges including cancer, obesity, dementia and ageing.

The government’s ambition is to drive a renaissance in UK manufacturing over the next decade. This will look to target areas in which the UK has, or could develop, a meaningful competitive advantage (such as cardiopulmonary, musculoskeletal and neurological rehabilitation).

Locally, business support is available through Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership, Invest in Leicester, Leicester and Leicestershire Business Gateway Hub, the East Midlands Chamber and Loughborough University Science and Enterprise Park.

Further sectoral support can be accessed through Midlands Engine Health, Midlands Innovation Health, and the Midlands Health Alliance.

Success stories

Renfrew Group International

The award-winning life science design to manufacture team at Renfrew Group International have been based in Leicester for 40 years.

They help accelerate the journey from the lab bench to the market by providing not only user centred design expertise, but the means to manufacture trial volumes from their two sites in Leicester. This mix, including manufacture, is unique to the region.

By blending skills and facilities that work across the development pathway they rapidly commercialise technologies with organisations across the globe.

Charnwood Molecular

Charnwood Molecular is an award-winning, UK-based contract research organisation, which has been providing expert support in drug discovery and development to the Biotech and Pharma industries for over 20 years.

All their clients benefit from a proactive and open approach, geared towards rapidly advancing projects towards important key decision points and beyond. The company place great emphasis on collaboration in their work and in their relationships with clients.

In drug discovery projects, the Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Development teams work closely to offer a seamless transfer from discovery to development phase for their client’s preclinical candidates. This reduces time and cost in moving towards the clinic.

Datalink Electronics

Datalink Electronics is an award-winning contract electronic product design and manufacturing company, with decades of experience in a variety of industries in particular medical devices, oil and gas, and scientific instrumentation.

With the growing demand for technologies, solutions and treatments that address the needs of patients in rehabilitation or those with chronic conditions, Datalink has long been supporting clients active in these areas from prosthetics to diabetes management.

They have a highly qualified design and engineering team, which enables them to work closely with the leading-edge companies, universities and start-ups to turn state-of-the-art technology and research into commercial products. The team work within a manufacturing facility, which means a fast turnaround on prototypes and the ability to move swiftly from design into production.