The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), the UK’s technology innovation provider for process manufacturing, has received funding to establish a new innovation center, the National Centre for Healthcare Photonics, which will focus initially on novel technologies for imaging, diagnostics and therapy. The facility will be financially supported with an £8.3 million ($9.7 million) grant from the Local Growth Fund through the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). Building of the center will begin in October 2017 at NETPark in Sedgefield and the center is expected to open in December 2018. A key focus in health care photonics is the need to reduce barriers that prevent promising research and early-stage inventions from moving beyond the laboratory and into innovative healthcare solutions for patients. CPI aims to achieve this objective by creating infrastructure and capability to address several of these major barriers. The formation of the National Centre will allow more early-stage and small- and medium-sized companies to drive forward their innovation while increasing their chances of commercialization at reduced risk and with increased capital efficiencies. The new center will also stimulate and encourage large companies in the U.K. to undertake more disruptive innovation. At the National Centre for Healthcare Photonics, CPI will partner with the academic, medical and clinical communities, supply and value chain partners, as well as key players within the healthcare innovation ecosystem. Biomedical imaging, photonic-enabled diagnostic methods and therapies will be features with the aim of helping improve the range and utility of photonic methods available. A set focus will be on reducing the cost of manufacture of photonic devices to address established market trends such as the move away from hospital-based and delivered services towards more local or personal testing and diagnosis. “This new center will provide the infrastructure and support for companies to bring to market their highly innovative products, which have the potential to be cost-effective and provide improvements to patient care. We will be looking at applications spanning the full range of healthcare settings, from hospitals and GPs through to home-based care,” said Tom Harvey, strategic programs manager at CPI. CPI consists of dedicated national innovation centers that support industrial biotechnology and biorefining, printable electronics, biologics and formulation. The centers enable advancements in major markets such as healthcare, electronics, food and drink, aerospace, automotive, materials and energy.