Innovation

From prototype to validated product

Uganda has scientific talent and real health system problems, but promising prototypes rarely reach validation, regulatory readiness or adoption. Mildmay Research Centre Uganda (MRCU)'s innovation stream exists to close that gap: building, validating and translating digital health tools, AI-assisted diagnostics and locally developed technologies.

Explore TRANSPIRE Validate a product

A separate discipline

Innovation is not a clinical study

Product development follows a different logic from a clinical trial. It needs problem definition, user research, intellectual property strategy, prototyping, quality management, regulatory planning and a business case, alongside the clinical and implementation evidence.

MRCU therefore runs innovation as its own stream, distinct from clinical research and implementation research, while drawing on both for the evidence a product eventually needs.

The TRANSPIRE pathway Validation laboratory

Built for African health systemsTools designed for real users working under real constraints, not for demonstration conditions.

What we do

Four kinds of innovation work

Digital health and AI

AI-assisted diagnostic models, decision-support tools, person-centric medical record systems and predictive analytics for care transitions.

Diagnostic, AI and tool validation

Independent validation of diagnostics, medical devices, digital tools and AI models in an ISO 15189 accredited laboratory and in routine service settings. AI validation covers model performance on local data, clinical safety and how the tool behaves in the hands of real users.

Translation and venture building

The TRANSPIRE pathway: staged decision gates covering IP, quality systems, validation protocols, regulatory planning and adoption.

Evaluation consultancies

Independent evaluation of tools, programmes and digital interventions for developers, implementers and funders.

Innovation portfolio

What we are building

Public portfolio items are those cleared for disclosure. Other concepts remain under internal review until confidentiality, IP, ethics and partnership clearances are in place.

Translation platform

TRANSPIRE

MRCU's innovation translation platform, moving selected health research prototypes through Identify, Invent, Validate and Implement stages with staged decision gates and governance.

Open project page

AI diagnostics

LiverAI

An AI-assisted second-reader tool for liver ultrasound images, supporting suspicious lesion detection and clinical validation for hepatocellular carcinoma screening.

Visit liverai.org

Nutrition AI

AI NutriCare

A computer-vision and digital-health concept for improving malnutrition screening in children under five by digitising growth assessment and supporting frontline decision-making.

Tool validation

Independent validation, in an accredited setting

Developers need evidence that regulators, funders and ministries will accept. MRCU provides independent validation through an ISO 15189 SANAS-accredited laboratory that also serves as a national backup facility, combined with access to a real patient population and clinicians who will use the tool in practice.

Analytical and clinical performance evaluation of diagnostics and devices
Validation of AI and machine-learning tools against locally representative data, including bias, drift and clinical safety assessment
Field evaluation with real users in routine service conditions
Usability, feasibility and acceptability studies alongside accuracy work
Health-economic and implementation evidence for adoption decisions
Support for locally developed rapid diagnostic technologies and supply resilience

Talk to us about validation Laboratory capability

Governance

Innovation handled responsibly

Health innovation touches patient safety, data confidentiality and institutional accountability. MRCU handles ideas through secure intake, documented review and clear ownership decisions before anything is scaled or made public.

IP and disclosure

Confidentiality discipline, invention disclosure and publication controls before public demonstration, with IP, software, data and AI-model ownership reviewed before scale-up.

Quality and regulation

Freedom-to-operate assessment, regulatory pathway planning and quality-system thinking for diagnostics and devices.

Ethics and data

Ethics review through MUREC, data protection and data stewardship for any work involving human participants or clinical data.

Partner with us

Have a health innovation that needs validating?

MRCU works with clinical teams, universities, health programmes, funders, regulatory experts, product developers and innovators building practical solutions for African health systems.

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