Inovus Medical has announced the launch of its new Education, Research, and Innovation Centre (ERIC). Based within the company’s St Helens headquarters – and part-funded by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Inovus says ERIC is a cutting-edge centre designed to advance education, research, and innovation in the region by delivering specialist training across key sectors including healthcare, life sciences, and advanced manufacturing.
ERIC will also serve as an extension of the LCR Ignite programme – a training programme for young people supported by 1 million GBP from the Combined Authority as part of the Liverpool City Region Innovation Zone.
It provides a physical location where industry partners, educators, and local communities can unite to strengthen the region’s talent pipeline, foster economic growth and inclusion, and support the LCR in fulfilling its ambition to become a leader in innovation.
A series of one-day intensive courses will be offered, combining hands-on practice with expert guidance and structured feedback. Students will be empowered to improve their core surgical skills and develop more complex techniques using Inovus’ suite of state-of-the-art simulators. Each course has been carefully constructed to help trainees embed essential skills in a compact time frame.
Inovus Medical’s hybrid augmented reality simulators are compatible with real instruments and offer natural haptics to closely mimic the real-life surgical experience while also providing a safe learning environment that rewards repetition.
“Working to solve the global surgeon shortage and ultimately save lives is the driving force behind Inovus Medical and ERIC. This new educational institution will not only bring trainee surgeons from all over the world to the LCR but will also allow them to maximise their training time through our affordable, accessible intensive courses that combine surgical simulation with expert-led education,” said Dr Elliot Street, CEO of Inovus Medical
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Cabinet Member for Employment, Education and Skills Cllr Marion Atkinson said: “Giving local people the skills to benefit from job opportunities created in the life sciences sector is a key part of the Innovation Zone programme. Inovus is helping to ease a worldwide shortage of surgeons and plug the city region’s life sciences skills gap.
“The LCR Ignite programme is a wonderful opportunity for students to get amazing work experience using state-of-the-art technology at a city region company that has global reach.”
The launch of ERIC coincided with an event honouring LCR Ignite’s first cohort. 24 students from Carmel College in St Helens have successfully completed a four-month work experience programme with Inovus Medical. Divided into four specialisms, each attended weekly interactive sessions where they developed sector-specific skills in Medical Technology Operations, Brand & Business, Software Engineering & Development, and Medical Technology Innovations.
Attended by 60, the event was an opportunity to celebrate the students’ hard work and commitment as well as thank the industry mentors, partners, and educators who have supported the programme.
