£140 million boost for AI technologies set to revolutionise NHS care

Zebra Medical Vision, the deep-learning medical imaging analytics company, is one of several organisations to receive UK government funding as part of the NHS AI Lab’s AI in Health and Care Award.

The AI Award is making £140 million available over four years to accelerate the testing and evaluation of artificial intelligence technologies which meet the aims set out in the NHS Long Term Plan.

The Award aims to increase the impact of AI-driven technologies to help solve clinical and operational challenges across the NHS and care settings. It will speed up the most promising technologies through the regulatory process by building an evidence base to demonstrate the effectiveness and safety of AI-driven technologies in health and social care.

With this Award, Zebra Medical Vision will be able to clinically validate the value of AI as part of population level opportunistic screening for patients across the NHS, while further developing the preventative care pathway to identify people at risk of osteoporosis, positioning the technology for NHS-wide adoption.

In collaboration with respected partners, The Royal Osteoporosis Society, and the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the award will facilitate a multi-centre, multi-year study within five diverse NHS sites, evidencing how the AI-enabled vertebral fracture pathway will work in reality to impact patient outcomes.

“This grant is another milestone in our path towards a fully comprehensive and scalable AI solution for population health domains,” said Zohar Elhanani, CEO of Zebra Medical Vision. “This prestigious grant is joining our R&D collaboration with NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde to co-develop AI-enabled osteoporosis prevention services. We’re honoured to be chosen by the NHS time after time and are thankful for the opportunity to demonstrate our groundbreaking technology in the areas of vertebral fractures for the benefit of the broader population.”

The AI Award is one of the programmes that make up the NHS AI Lab, led by NHSX and delivered in partnership with the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

Dr Indra Joshi, Director of AI, NHSX, said: ‘With this latest round of AI Award winners, we now have an incredible breadth of expertise across a wide range of clinical and operational areas. Through this award, Zebra Medical Vision will be at the forefront of applying artificial intelligence in new ways to transform health and care.’