Last week, Aura Health attended Health Innovation Talks: Encouraging HealthTech Innovation in Zagreb, a conference hosted by the British Embassy in Croatia and the University of Zagreb.

The event brought together NHS leaders, Croatian government officials, and MedTech executives to discuss practical approaches for getting innovations from the pilot stage into routine clinical use.

What we learned at Health Innovation Talks

Prof. Tony Young OBE, NHS England‘s National Clinical Director for Innovation, outlined five principles that determine whether an innovation succeeds in a public healthcare system: it must address a national priority, decrease friction, remove unnecessary steps, remain affordable, and generate real-world evidence. He presented the NHS 10-year health plan built around three strategic shifts: from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from treatment to prevention.

The NHS plans to move two-thirds of outpatient appointments to digital alternatives, with a Single Patient Record accessible via the NHS App by 2028. AI tools tested on the Federated Data Platform have already shown potential to reduce paperwork time by 51.7% and allow doctors to treat 13.4% more patients per shift.

Young also shared examples from the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme, which has helped launch companies like Neutrocheck, a low-cost blood testing device for cancer patients that NATO later adapted for radiation detection purposes.

The Croatian angle

Dr. Ante Marušić, consultant radiologist at Telemedicine Clinic (UK) and former Radiology Lead for Croatia’s National Lung Cancer Screening Program, compared the two countries’ approaches to lung cancer screening.

The numbers tell an interesting story. Croatia achieved a 60% uptake rate with 93% population coverage, while the UK recorded a 75% uptake rate but only 8% population coverage. In Croatia, 85.6% of screening participants joined because their GP initiated the referral, and 90% said they would recommend the program to others.

When asked what Croatia can share to improve healthcare, Dr. Marušić pointed to system organisation, digitalisation, well-educated professionals, and research achievements. From the UK, Croatia can learn about workplace culture, training resources, and working environment organisation.

UK market opportunity

Dace Dimza-Jones from the UK Department for Business and Trade at Health Innovation Talks presented the Global Entrepreneur Programme, which, since 2004, has helped create over 10,000 jobs and raised over £2.5 billion for science and tech companies expanding to the UK.

Some context on the UK market: NHS England has a total budget of £192 billion for 2025/26, spends more than £19 billion annually on medicines, and approximately £10 billion on MedTech. As of early 2023, the NHS had invested £123 million in 86 AI technologies benefiting over 300,000 patients.

The UK ranks first in Europe for unicorns, first for venture capital activity, and has four of the top ten universities worldwide. The country offers specific support mechanisms, including 20% R&D tax credit, 10% corporation tax through the Patent Box for IP-generated profits, and 100% capital allowance on qualifying expenditure.

What this means for our clients

Aura Health works with MedTech companies and digital health startups on development, regulatory compliance, clinical evidence strategy, and product positioning. Events like Health Innovation Talks help us stay connected to the policy discussions that shape market access.

For companies developing SaMD or digital therapeutics, Young’s “Innovation Success 5” framework offers a useful checklist:

Does it reduce friction?
Does your product address a national priority?
Does it remove steps from the care pathway?
Is it affordable?
And critically, can you demonstrate real-world evidence?

The NHS is making five “big bets” on AI, data, genomics, robotics, and wearables, with faster medtech approval pathways as a stated priority. For MedTech companies looking at the UK market, the message is clear: evidence and outcomes matter, and there are structured pathways for companies ready to demonstrate them.

If you’re developing a digital health product and want to understand what it takes to enter the UK or EU market, contact us.