Huddersfield Business School at the University of Huddersfield has teamed up with the Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice in a three-year partnership.
The aim is for academics at the business school to work with senior leaders at the hospice as the charity faces significant challenges around funding amid an increasing demand for support.
Huddersfield-based Forget Me Not has been delivering care and support to children with life-shortening conditions and their families for more than 10 years.
Its long-term sustainability is vital to ensure the hospice can continue to provide outstanding specialist care, now and in the future.
Prof Shona Bettany, of Huddersfield Business School, is leading the Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) which is backed by £240,000 of Innovate UK funding.
The project will see the development and implementation of an innovative framework, the Forget Me Not Blueprint, that will drive the transformation of the charity into a learning organisation and pioneering knowledge leader in the children’s hospice sector.
Prof Bettany said: “Hospices face significant and increasingly complex challenges: lack of government funding, an increasingly competitive funding environment, increasing demand for services and complexity of service-user needs.
“This exciting project will accelerate the required transformative strategic re-visioning to consolidate existing operations and develop and embed innovative new capabilities with Forget Me Not.”
Gareth Pierce, CEO at Forget Me Not, said: “Innovation has always been central to everything we do. This amazing partnership with the University of Huddersfield will enable us to take the steps we need to continue to innovate, grow and develop, underpinned by robust research and expert project management.
“And, by doing so, it will protect our future so we can continue to be here for children and families for many, many years to come.”
KTPs are Government-funded programmes aimed at helping UK businesses improve competitiveness, production and performance, part-funded through Innovate UK. The programme involves a collaboration between an organisation, nominated academic mentors from the university and a recent graduate.
Innovate UK is the country’s national innovation agency, which supports business-led innovation in all sectors and technologies, helping businesses grow through the development and commercialisation of new products, processes and services.
