The newest Lister Alliance Living Lab to join the fold will be established in the West Midlands with Birmingham, the country’s second largest city, leading the charge. This is an area comprising 6.2 million people, where more than 100 languages are spoken, and a diverse population that reflects the global community. With this picture comes unique healthcare challenges — and a huge opportunity for a bespoke, iterative, collaborative living lab approach led by the University of Birmingham in partnership with the Cisco Country Digital Acceleration programme.

Our project aims to improve communication between primary, secondary, and at-home care to prevent unnecessary admissions and readmissions, and address health inequalities through better preventative health measures. The region is also home to the West Midlands Secure Data Environment, which will be a vital component of the West Midlands Living Lab as we seek to break down siloes between existing services in the region, and orchestrate better, connected health and social care.

We will launch with pilots based in community hubs, NHS Primary Care and hospital trusts to form key anchor points with our local citizens. Partnerships with community organisations will help us expand our footprint and ensure we are addressing the needs of our diverse neighbourhoods.

Agenda:

11:50 – Registration Commences

12:00 – Networking Lunch

12:10 – Innovation Workshop Opening & Introductions
Joanne Roney, Managing Director, Birmingham City Council
Neil Hanley, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, University of Birmingham

Plenary Session

12:30 – Keynote Address – “Health Data, the opportunities & pitfalls”
Dame Julie Moore, Chair of Health Data Research UK

12:40 – Lister Alliance & Cisco Country Digital Acceleration
Emily Saunders, Programme Manager, Lister Alliance
Declan Hadley, Healthcare Lead, Cisco UK

12:50 – Why a living lab?
Sheena Asthana, Director, Plymouth Centre for Health Technology

13:00 – Roadmap for the West Midlands Living Lab
Dipak Kotecha, Director, DaRe2THINK & Cities@Heart
Simon Ball, SRO, NHS West Midlands SDE

Breakout Sessions

13:15 – Rotation 1
13:45 – Rotation 2
Moderators:
Shivani Sharma, Deputy Pro-VC, Aston University
Elizabeth Sapey, Director, HDR-UK Pioneer Acute Care
Mubasshir Ajaz, Head of Health and Communities, WMCA
Lorraine Harper, Director, Birmingham Health Partners

14:15 – Coffee Break

Plenary Session

14:30 – Feedback from breakouts

15:00 – Suggested directions for the West Midlands Living Lab

15:25 – Close & Next steps

15:30 – Opportunity for further networking