Introduction

The vision of the healthcare technologies theme is to accelerate the translation of EPSRC research to healthcare applications by:

• Building critical mass around UK research strengths in computational, engineering, mathematical and physical sciences that underpin healthcare;
• Maximising business, charity and clinical engagement in research, thereby increasing translation to products and practices.

Strong features of the theme are:

• Focussing on the highest priority healthcare challenges and the research capabilities that will address them;
• Partnerships with other funders to encourage translational research and open up pathways to impact;
• Providing support for environments that promote multidisciplinary research and training;
• Stimulating creative and transformational approaches to address unmet clinical needs and improve patient outcomes.

In order to achieve this vision the theme launched a new strategy in March 2015.