BOA Innovation Award: Translating Innovation into Practice

For innovators with ideas ready to improve NHS trauma and orthopaedic care

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Download BOA Innovation Award application form


About the award

The BOA Innovation Award identifies and recognises high-potential innovation in the trauma and orthopaedic life sciences sector: products, technologies, services and platforms that can improve patient care, enhance service delivery and be adopted across the NHS.

As well as recognition, the award gives innovators access to expert feedback, visibility within the orthopaedic community, and opportunities to support evaluation, implementation and adoption in clinical practice.

Who can apply

  • Start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
  • Academic-industry collaborations
  • Established life sciences companies
  • Clinical innovators and entrepreneurs
  • Technology developers working in trauma and orthopaedics

What can make an entry stand out

  • A clearly defined unmet need relevant to NHS trauma and orthopaedic practice
  • A novel and relevant product, technology, service or platform
  • Evidence, or a credible evaluation plan, showing benefit to patients and services
  • A feasible route to implementation, with an appropriate regulatory and intellectual property pathway
  • A realistic commercialisation strategy and understanding of the market
  • Potential to scale and transfer across NHS settings

How to enter

  1. Submit a five-minute recorded presentation as a narrated PowerPoint or a video. It should cover the unmet need, impact and evidence, your intellectual property and regulatory position, the market and competitors, and your route to commercialisation.
  2. Shortlisting. An expert panel scores all eligible entries and agrees a shortlist.
  3. Pitch at Congress. Shortlisted applicants give an eight-minute live presentation at a dedicated session at BOA Congress 2027, followed by questions from the panel.
  4. Winner announced. The panel confirms the winner after the live session, using the published criteria.

How your entry will be assessed

Criterion

Weighting

Innovation and relevance

25%

Patient and service impact

25%

Implementation and regulatory readiness

20%

Scalability and transferability

15%

Commercialisation and value proposition

15%


The judging panel

The panel brings together clinical, policy, regulatory, investment and procurement expertise.

Recognition and support

  • National recognition through BOA channels
  • Presentation at BOA Congress 2027, with poster or exhibition opportunities where appropriate
  • Potential publication in the Journal of Trauma and Orthopaedics and/or Orthopaedic Product News, subject to agreement
  • Feedback from the expert panel
Download BOA Innovation Award application form