Most companies talk about innovation. Few talk about why.

For me, the journey into building Inference Clinical has never just been about technology. Digital transformation is one part technology, one part people and culture, and one part governance — paired with the level of agility that's appropriate to the context.

I've spent thirty years working on transformation projects across industries — finance, retail, government, life sciences, and healthcare. I've seen the agility of small teams and the energy of start-ups, but also the bureaucracy and shareholder-first mindset of large vendors.

Too often, the value is extracted upward — away from the people who need better systems, faster pathways, or safer care. And away too from the staff on the ground, who deserve decent jobs they can enjoy, where the value they create is clear and intrinsic.

The NHS is different. It matters more to us than almost any other institution. That's why I wanted to take everything I've learned about digital transformation and aim it at the place where it counts the most.

Research With a Purpose

Our research projects aren't just "innovation theatre." They exist because we've felt the pain points first-hand — as patients, as families, and as professionals watching transformation move too slowly. Sometimes the reasons are structural or political. Ideas exist but don't get surfaced or evaluated. People may feel defeated before they've even begun, faced with barriers to entry that make innovation in the NHS harder than it needs to be.

That's what we're trying to change: lowering barriers, and making it easier to move from idea to safe, working solution.

1. DCB CoLab – Making Clinical Safety Work for Teams

Barrier: Clinical safety governance is complex, paperwork-heavy, and intimidating — especially for innovators without medical training.

What it does: Uses AI to generate hazard logs, draft evidence packs, and guide teams through DCB 0129/0160 compliance.

In practice: A developer building a patient-facing app can run it through CoLab, and the system will auto-generate a hazard log highlighting missing clinical mitigations before a Clinical Safety Officer ever sees it.

Why it matters: It saves CSOs time, reduces rework, and helps talented developers contribute safely without needing seven years of medical school.

2. FHIR Cube – Local Power for GPs

Barrier: GP practices are stuck with fragmented systems and little room to innovate safely, while patients lack visibility and control over consent.

What it does: Provides a lightweight FHIR datastore that synchronises with national infrastructure while giving practices space to innovate. Patients are given clear control over consent, ensuring their data is shared on their terms.

In practice: A practice nurse can capture patient-reported data in a mobile form and see it synchronised securely with both the local store and the national record.

Why it matters: It bridges national standards with local realities, empowering clinicians to adapt workflows while maintaining trust and patient control.

3. SteadyTrace – Wearables Built for Care, Not Just Fitness

Barrier: Wearable devices flood patients and clinicians with raw data but lack trusted escalation pathways.

What it does: Wraps consumer wearables in NHS-grade monitoring protocols, with configurable escalation pathways for clinicians and clear feedback loops for patients.

In practice: If a patient's heart rate spikes repeatedly overnight, SteadyTrace confirms the pattern before escalating, reducing false alarms and giving clinicians actionable data.

Why it matters: Patients feel supported at home after discharge, and clinicians see signals they can trust rather than noise.

4. HealthFoundry – Ideas Into Pathways

Barrier: Clinician insights and frontline ideas too often stay stuck in corridors or email threads, never structured, tested, or scaled.

What it does: Provides a structured innovation pipeline where clinicians, digital leads, and suppliers can explore new pathways in safe workshops with governance embedded from the start.

In practice: A team might use HealthFoundry to design a digital bladder diary. The system helps structure the idea into a safe pilot workflow, making it testable and scalable.

Why it matters: Clinicians see their insights acted on, managers get structured routes to pilot, and patients benefit sooner.

Avoiding Lock-In

Our approach is designed to avoid lock-in and dependency. NHS teams should be able to own and extend the systems they adopt, not be constrained by vendor contracts.

Why It Matters

This isn't abstract for me. I've been a patient. I've seen loved ones wait too long, or get lost in the system. I know what it feels like to sit in a waiting room, unsure if the right data will follow you from one hospital to another.

And professionally, I've seen transformation up close in finance, retail, government, life sciences, and healthcare. I know the patterns that create real change — and the traps that derail it. In every industry, digital can either empower people or entrench bureaucracy.

That's why the NHS matters more than any other setting. Because here, transformation isn't about margins or market share. It's about lives, confidence, and trust.