Derbyshire entrepreneur's life-changing mental health tool wins £50,000 Women in Innovation Award

Miriam Silver is one of 50 winners of Innovate UK’s annual Women in Innovation Awards, announced on International Women’s Day, March 8, after being selected from a record 920 entrants.

The prize acknowledges Miriam’s work on BERRI, software now used local authorities and partner organisations around the country to track the wellbeing of looked-after children in residential homes or foster care, and guide decisions about their care.

Miriam said: “It’s really amazing to win and receive this level of recognition. When you start a small business it’s like you’re building with sticky tape and string. Without support like this it could take years to reach the point of launching new developments.”

It has already taken Miriam around 18 years to reach this point from her initial idea while working in NHS clinical practice. BERRI was first used by a care home operator in 2015.

Today the company is staffed by a core team of ten employees and associated contractors, saving millions of pounds for councils and changing the life chances of thousands of vulnerable youngsters.

The award is just the latest backing Miriam has received from public funding body UK Research and Innovation, but it could be the catalyst for a revolutionary new phase in the business.

Miriam hopes to make a version of BERRI available to parents who may be struggling to contextualise their child’s behaviour, or access the necessary help.

She said: “It’s basically a set of questions to work though – whether your child hits other people aggressively, how they make friendships, whether they exhibit signs of anxiety or depression.

“At the end it produces a report showing how your child compares to thousands of others we’ve assessed. It may say they have behavioural problems which are perfectly normal, or it might flag potential issues and patterns that need addressing. If you take that to a doctor, it may help getting the right referral more quickly.”

She added: “I think the competition judges saw it is a particularly salient topic at the moment. With the pandemic and cost-of-living pressures, there is a lot of stress on families and everyone recognises that NHS services are hard to access, with high thresholds and long waiting times.

“Loads and loads of parents are worried about their child, but maybe aren’t able to show their level of symptoms meet the high bar for treatment, or maybe they don’t know exactly what to ask for.”

If all goes to plan, the new version of Berri could launch this summer, and Miriam will receive expert mentoring from Innovate UK to bring it to market.

She said: “I think women often find it harder to say ‘I’m good, invest in me’, and easier to articulate the difference we can make for others.

“There are expectations at all levels of the system that tech entrepreneurs are young men. There’s something great about being a middle-aged mum in that space, challenging those expectations. I think this award is a chance to make women’s capabilities more visible.”

To learn more about Women in Innovation, go to iuk.ktn-uk.org/programme/women-in-innovation.

For more details on BERRI, see berri.org.uk.

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