Process explained

Each application is spit into stages A to H at each stage an new part of the application and assessment is completed by either the inventor, NHS Innovations North staff or a expert appointed to the project (under Confidentiality). These stages are described in the following sections

Part A is Initial Idea Registration. This is very quick and simple only requiring contact information and an indication that you are a trust employee. This also serves to provide you with an access code for your idea to enable you to access Part B, the main application Form

Once you have agreed our terms and conditions and submitted a description of your idea on Part B of our on-line confidential application form, we will perform a detailed product and patent search. Our findings will be captured for you in a comprehensive Opportunity Assessment Report. A summary of our findings will be retained on-line for you to view as part C of the process

In Part D you will be able to give us feedback in on our conclusions and forward plan, after which we can seek further advice and conduct additional research, the agreed plan for which will be summarised in Part E of the process.

Not all ideas will get this far, existing intellectual property may have been found or the proposed product may exist. If an idea still seems worth pursuing after our research it will be put to our Panel of experts who will make comments in Part F. Part G summarises these comments.

Finally a section, Part H, is provided to continually keep the inventor informed of the progress of commercialising their idea. The inventor may also make comment or ask question in this section if required.
This process does not substitute other forms of communication with our staff; it is intended as a tool to clearly communicate the progress of ideas presented to us. We also welcome any comments on our systems to improve them. Please send comments to enquiry@nhsinnovationsnorth.org.uk.