Print This PostIf you want to develop your research into a product to create lasting impact for people living with dementia, the Alzheimer’s Society Innovation Team’s newest support package is designed for you.
We have teamed up with Good Innovation to host a four-month, part-time, free, support package to help bring the most exciting ideas to life. This is a springboard for you to go on to secure your first pilot sites, first customers and/or first investment cheques, to be able to create a fully-fledged research venture. See our blog on venture science to understand a little more about how the academic and commercial worlds can work together.
What support do we provide?
The launchpad support package is designed to be bespoke in content and cyclical in delivery, so that we can meet you where you are and through a process of feedback, iteration and development help you shape and refine your product idea and the business model that will surround this.
Through Launchpad, you will have access to 1:1 business coaching from Good Innovation and hands on support from a Senior Innovator at Alzheimer’s Society. Masterclasses will equip you with the skills to be able to lead your business and you will have access to a wide range of expert networks both within and outside the organisation.
Three face-to-face validation events are placed throughout the support package to provide opportunities for you to test and validate aspects of your idea and/or business model. At these events you will be able to host focus groups with people with lived experience of dementia, attend office hours with industry experts and present your ideas to networks of individuals representing the full dementia innovation ecosystem.
What will you get?
Throughout Launchpad you will be supported to:
- Identify a target customer for your product idea and test with them the value of your idea.
- Create and/or develop a viable business model and go-to-market strategy to commercialise this idea.
- Create a compelling argument to outline the size of the problem you are
looking to fix, drawing on large dementia datasets and testimonies.
- Create a robust evaluation plan so that you can pitch for pilot opportunities.
What is the commitment?
Launchpad is a free programme, and is designed to be part-time so that you can fit the support around your academic role.
We expect that applicants can devote a minimum of one day per week to launchpad related activities.
You will be expected to attend (and pay for your travel to) three face-to-face events. One in Sheffield, one in East Anglia and one in Sussex.
You will be expected to participate in evaluation research and provide onward data to the Alzheimer’s Society for our impact metrics.
How can I apply?
Applications open on the 14th of October on our website. Places are awarded on a rolling basis and we reserve the right to close the call early. Applications will be assessed by external reviewers before being invited to interview.
Find out more in our Applicant Handbook, available on our website, or come and chat to us in our Wednesday afternoon office hours.
Not sure if it’s the right fit for you? Check out our blog post to find the four reasons academics make good innovators.
Dr Ella Moonan-Howard
Authors
Ella Moonan-Howard is a Senior Innovator at the Alzheimer’s Society. Ella previous worked at Zinc, supporting early stage start-ups and their founders to build research skills and to test their products as they built them. Obsessed with seeing the direct impact these start-ups could make, she moved to Alzheimer’s Society to ensure the next generation of dementia products go on to achieve scale and change the lives of those living with dementia.
Dementia Researcher
