Surgical Innovation Ideathon: RCS England, LIHE and Team partner to lead workshop

04 Feb 2026 5min read

This March, Team Consulting is partnering with the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) and the London Institute for Healthcare Engineering (LIHE) to lead a new Surgical Innovation Ideathon.

This collaborative, in-person workshop is open to surgeons, academics, and industry professionals interested in addressing real clinical challenges and identifying opportunities for innovation.

Date: 25th March 2026
Time: 9.00-18.30 GMT
Location: London Institute for Healthcare Engineering

Surgical Innovation Ideathon - the workshop

During the event, delivered by Team Consulting and the RCS England Innovation Hub (I-Hub), in partnership with LIHE and the NIHR Healthcare Research Centre Cardiorespiratory in Cardiovascular and Respiratory Medicine, participants will gain invaluable insight.

Work on a predefined set of clinically validated surgical problems – building a clear problem statement and directions for concept generation
Apply an industry-informed innovation framework – de-risking early decisions and shaping concepts for real patient impact and commercial viability
Co-create with surgical leaders – stress-testing the ideas you generate with multidisciplinary expertise at your fingertips
Pitch your solution concepts to a panel of MedTech experts – gaining actionable feedback and guidance
Be considered for follow-on support to explore the progression of high-potential ideas into research initiatives or MedTech ventures

Meet the facilitators

Leading the workshop is Team’s Product Development Director, Steve Blatcher, and Surgical Technology Lead, Oscar Mackay. Both have a wealth of experience working with surgical innovators to create user-centred, commercially successful products.

Steve has spent the past 30 years developing novel medical products across the MedTech space and was recently a judge at LIHE’s MedTech Venture Builder Programme. As Director of Product Development at Team, Steve ensures that development teams never lose sight of the need to balance technical feasibility, desirability and commercial viability. This is a core philosophy at Team and underpins the realisation of over £2bn in value for Team’s MedTech clients.

The UK’s ability to quickly and effectively translate the amazing innovation that comes out of our universities and hospitals is key to addressing the UK’s productivity gap and spiralling costs of healthcare. At Team, we’re delighted to work directly with surgical innovators to support their concepts that address real clinical needs. I look forward to the event, partnering with RCS England and LIHE to ensure that the fundamentals of MedTech translation are considered from the outset.
Steve Blatcher, Product Development Director, Team Consulting

Oscar is an experienced mechanical engineer with nearly a decade dedicated to surgical device development, having worked across a broad spectrum of medical technologies – from surgical robotics and instrumentation to next-generation minimally invasive devices and surgical tools. Oscar leads the surgical technology sector at Team, partnering with the world’s most innovative MedTech companies to translate cutting-edge technology into successful surgical devices.

Events like the RCS England Surgical Innovation Ideathon are exactly where meaningful surgical technologies begin, at the intersection of real clinical need, surgical insight and multidisciplinary collaboration. Bringing surgeons, engineers and academics together around validated clinical challenges accelerates the translation of ideas into practical solutions that can genuinely improve patient outcomes. We’re proud to support initiatives that put clinicians at the heart of innovation and help move great ideas from concept to clinical reality.
Oscar Mackay, Surgical Technology Lead, Team Consulting

Client success stories - helping surgeons translate clinical knowledge into surgical devices

Team has a strong track record of supporting surgeons in translating their clinical ideas into disruptive devices.

A $240M acquisition of a novel surgical device for controlling bleeds during surgery

We developed a highly intuitive device to precisely deliver start-up ProFibrix’s innovation – a fine, sticky powder for clotting blood during a variety of surgical procedures. Following successful outcomes from the clinical program, we supported ProFibrix through the final leg of their journey, which culminated in a full acquisition by The Medicines Company for a deal worth $240M.

A $1.5bn world-first system that keeps transplant livers alive

OrganOx, a University of Oxford spin-out, wanted to develop an automated, transportable liver perfusion device that would help to protect the liver during transport – by keeping it alive outside the body. Team Consulting helped the start-up take their initial idea from device specification through to manufacture. OrganOx has since been acquired by Terumo Corporation in a $1.5bn deal.

surgical tool to reduce the frequent swapping of instrument

Improving the clinical workflow of neurosurgery

In collaboration with the RCS England I-Hub, we helped Muhammad Shahzad, an NHS neurosurgeon, to develop a concept for a new surgical tool to reduce the frequent swapping of instruments during the removal of meningiomas.

Woman with augmented reality headset for burns training

Using mixed reality for immersive surgeon training

Working with Dr Stefan Hudson, Clinical Innovation Fellow, and Mr Ryan Kerstein, Consultant Plastic Surgeon, we designed a mixed reality headset to elevate burns training for surgeons which could significantly reduce costs for the NHS.

Controlling incisions in oncoplastic breast surgery

We helped Shweta Aggarwal, a consultant plastic surgeon, to create a prototype device to improve surgeon accuracy for incisions in breast surgery procedures.

Addressing user challenges in laparoscopic surgery

We developed a low-cost, consumable device concept to enable simple and effective cleaning of the laparoscope with our client, a former NHS consultant surgeon.

Are you looking to develop cutting-edge, user centred surgical solutions?

Not attending the Surgical Innovation Ideathon event? Contact us to discuss how Team could work with you to solve your clinical challenges.

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