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UK mental health innovation scheme will bring patients, researchers, the NHS and industry together

A University of Manchester-led national initiative has launched to connect lived experience, researchers, the NHS and technology organisations around better mental health innovation.

By The TEA Editorial Desk · 28 August 2026

Graphic accompanying the University of Manchester mental health digital innovation initiative Image: University of ManchesterOriginal source

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A national innovation led from Manchester has launched with the aim of getting the people who use services much closer to the people designing new tools and .

The scheme is intended to connect people with lived experience, , NHS teams and industry so promising ideas can be developed around real needs rather than technology for technology’s sake.

That mix matters in mental health, where digital products can look impressive on paper but fail if they are difficult to use, poorly integrated into services or designed without enough input from the people they are supposed to help.

The Manchester-led programme is therefore as much about collaboration as invention, creating a national structure for testing and improving mental health innovation with patients and services involved from the start.