Women’s health programme expands from 2 to 26 innovations

The Ripple Women’s Digital Health Challenge has expanded from supporting two innovations to backing 26 women’s health technologies, with several set to be piloted in NHS settings.

Originally launched in 2025 by Cogniss, Health Innovation Network and Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber, the programme supports the development of patient-facing digital tools focused on underserved areas of women’s health.

The initiative is designed to help clinicians, researchers and founders build and test digital solutions without needing traditional software development teams, using the Cogniss no-code platform.

Among the innovations selected for the expanded cohort is NICU Baby, a neonatal support app designed to provide parents with clinical guidance, emotional support and practical tools during a baby’s hospital stay.

Participant Paula Brennan, from Liverpool Women’s University Hospital and creator of NICU Baby, said: “NICU Baby was created from seeing first-hand the challenges families face during neonatal care and recognising the need for better support and clearer information for parents.

“The Women’s Digital Health Challenge gives us the opportunity to develop a more inclusive digital platform shaped around real family experiences, helping parents feel more informed, supported and connected throughout their neonatal journey.

“At the heart of NICU Baby is one simple goal, helping families feel less alone during neonatal care.”

Other technologies in the programme include Gracefully, a bereavement care education app for maternity staff; MenoSaathi, which supports South Asian women experiencing menopause symptoms; and Jalititi, a multilingual breast health app focused on improving awareness among black women.

The latest expansion has been enabled through support from Health Innovation East, the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme, the NHS Innovation Accelerator, NIHR Devices for Dignity and TechUK, alongside Amazon Web Services.

Piers Ricketts, chief executive at Health Innovation East, said: “Without access to real-world testing, promising innovations can stall before their impact can be felt across the NHS.

“Access to this testing can be disproportionately hard for technologies supporting specific patient groups. Connecting innovator landing zones with the Ripple Women’s Health Challenge helps overcome this hurdle.”

Kathy Scott, deputy chief executive at Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber, added: “It’s exciting to see these much-needed innovations being given a fantastic boost through the creation of digital platforms which will be ready for testing in real-world settings.

“Women’s health has been underserved for too long and the Ripple initiative is exactly what’s needed to accelerate improvements in care.”

The programme also offers participants the opportunity to scale their products through Ripple Scale, a newly established digital health publisher that plans to create a women’s health portfolio for NHS organisations to evaluate and procure collectively.

Last month, a £1.5 million FemTech challenge fund to accelerate the adoption of innovations for women’s healthcare was launched as part of the government’s renewed Women’s Health Strategy.

The strategy aims to ensure that women’s experiences are put at the centre of care across the healthcare system.

It includes plans to integrate services with online support to help reduce waiting times for diagnosis and treatment for conditions like endometriosis, which can take nearly a decade to diagnose.