Published by Health and Care Research Wales on 12th January 2026.
SAIL Databank, funded by Health and Care Research Wales, is a world-leading Trusted Research Environment (TRE) based at Swansea University. SAIL is transforming how anonymised health and care data is used – not only for academic research, but also through strategic collaborations with industry that accelerate innovation and deliver real benefits for people in Wales.
Why these collaborations matter
Industry partnerships bring investment, expertise and new technologies into the Welsh research ecosystem. By working with SAIL, pharmaceutical companies, biotech firms and digital health innovators can:
- Develop new treatments and interventions.
- Improve health services and patient outcomes.
- Generate evidence that informs policy and practice.
Every project undergoes rigorous governance to ensure it delivers public benefit, alongside benefits to health and care systems.
Why collaborate with SAIL?
SAIL Databank offers industry partners a unique opportunity to work with one of the most comprehensive and secure health data resources in the UK and globally.
Organisations choose to collaborate with SAIL because of its:
Speed: Decisions on project proposals are made within a ~three-month window via the independent Information Governance Review Panel (IGRP) for non-complex data acquisition required applications, enabling rapid progress from concept to delivery.
Scale: Access to rich, linked data spanning health (primary care, secondary care and laboratory data), social care, registries and demographic data across Wales, supporting robust real-world evidence generation.
Security: All analysis is conducted within the accredited SAIL Databank, the national Trusted Research Environment (TRE) for Wales, powered by the Secure eResearch Platform (SeRP), ensuring data privacy, security and regulatory compliance.
Impact: Trusted by global pharmaceutical leaders to generate insights that inform treatments, services and policy, delivering measurable public benefit.
Real-world impact
From health research to collaborations with industry, SAIL’s partnerships are producing insights that help shape care pathways and improve population health. These projects demonstrate how Wales is leading the way in data-driven health research.
Professor Ashley Akbari, Professor of Population Data Science Research at Swansea University and Head of SAIL User and Data Support Services (UDSS) and Research Innovation at SAIL Databank, said:
“Industry plays a vital role in advancing treatment options and health research, which in turn leads to better health and wellbeing for the people of Wales.
At SAIL Databank, we want to enable credible, impactful research programmes with commercial organisations, grounded in real-world data.
“Partnerships with industry have already led to new insights, treatments and policy-relevant evidence for healthcare systems, delivering demonstrable public benefit. Looking ahead, we want to continue to enable the expansion of these collaborations, ensuring Wales remains at the forefront of data-driven innovation.”
One example of a successful industry collaboration involving SAIL is the PROUD-UC project, which evaluated the feasibility of measuring International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) outcomes for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) using routinely collected health data in Wales. This work provided a comprehensive view of patient outcomes by securely linking primary and secondary care data through the SAIL Databank.
Explore more industry collaboration case studies on the SAIL website to see how these partnerships are improving care and supporting evidence-based decision-making.
Our commitment
Through funding SAIL Databank, Health and Care Research Wales ensures Wales remains at the forefront of health data innovation. These collaborations strengthen the national research ecosystem and deliver tangible benefits for patients and services across Wales and beyond.
Get involved
Industry organisations interested in collaborating with SAIL can find out more on our industry collaborators pages. Together, we can turn data into discoveries that make a real difference for patients and services.
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