Sheffield Hallam welcomes first start-up to its £900k Wellbeing Accelerator programme

7 April 2020

Sheffield Hallam University’s Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre (AWRC) has welcomed the first start-up business to its £900,000 Wellbeing Accelerator programme.

Footfalls & Heartbeats, a Nottingham-based intelligent textiles business, will access state-of-the-art laboratories, business support packages and specialist facilities to help bring its products to market and improve people’s quality of life.

Based at Sheffield Hallam’s new world-leading £14m research centre, start-up businesses on the programme have access to world-class research and development that allows for rapid prototyping, precision engineering, laboratories for product testing, support networks and a clinical research centre.

The programme works with start-ups, SMEs, founders and agencies to accelerate the development of health and wellbeing technologies and applications. These innovations have become increasingly important this year as people adapt their lifestyles to the social restrictions triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the first phase of the Accelerator programme will be delivered virtually, with technology used to provide mentoring and consulting support. The second phase follows later in the year and will see small cohorts of businesses attending a series of intensive one-week onboarding sessions, followed by several weeks of further support.

The Wellbeing Accelerator at the AWRC is one of 20 University Enterprise Zones (UEZs), launched with a £20 million investment delivered by Research England, part of UK Research and Innovation. The Accelerator's aim is to increase the likelihood of, and reduce the timescales for, innovations to be brought to market through a period of intensive testing and development.

The AWRC, which forms the centrepiece of the Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park, is dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of the population through innovations that help people move. Its mission is to prevent and treat chronic disease through co-designed research into physical activity – whilst also attracting new jobs and investment to the region.

Visit the Sheffield Hallam website to find out more about the Wellbeing Accelerator programme.