“The last year has been the most important for technology and venture capital in the last decade.”
(Jonnie Goodwin, Head of Merchant Banking at Alvarium, 19 February 2021).
“The pandemic has mainstreamed the consumer side of digital health technologies in less than a year. Digital health products that were a novelty a year or two ago are now a necessity.”
(Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group, 6 January 2021).
In 2020, COVID-19 changed the health sector landscape forever, amplifying the need and urgency for innovators and entrepreneurs to bring novel solutions and products to market that support new models of care and target the health sector’s ‘wicked problems’ to improve patient outcomes, reduce costs and fix broken workflows. This combination of urgency, need and opportunity has supercharged global investment in digital health, which rose from US $8.8 billion in 2019 to US $14.8 billion in 2020 (Mercom Capital Group), a trend that is widely expected to continue as investors seize the opportunity to back ideas that promise future profitability and positive impact.
With technologies like robotics, AI, virtual reality, blockchain and the internet of things now a reality, what are the possibilities in health tech, where are the future opportunities, who will want to invest in them and how do you convert a thought bubble into the next big thing?
For answers to these questions and more, join DHCRC CEO Dr Terry Sweeney in conversation with prominent Australian venture capitalists and digital health entrepreneurs Ken Saman, Louise Schaper and Dr Michelle Perugini.
These industry insiders will give you an investor’s eye view of the digital health landscape and practical insights and advice to help you translate your big idea into action, no matter what stage of the entrepreneurial journey you are at.
The panel will discuss:
- What the post-COVID-19 landscape looks like and the opportunity this presents for digital health innovators, entrepreneurs, and start-ups.
- Who actually owns potential ‘bright ideas’ (is it the employee or employer, the student or their university?) and how to protect them.
- What terms like intellectual property, patent and commercialisation mean, and why understanding these is important.
- Where to go for advice, who to trust and what support is available for newcomers to the innovation and tech scene.
- How to pitch products or ideas to venture capitalists, when to do it and the best ways to find and connect with potential clients, end users, investors, and mentors.
- What venture capitalists are really looking for (is it all about potential profitability?).
- Future predictions and emerging trends for the next 20 years.
Panel chair
Dr Terry Sweeney CMGWith over 22 years global experience, Terry is recognised as a thought leader in digital health. With several successful startups acquired by large multinationals, he continues to advise organisations such as the G20 on the use of tech to solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
Panel
Ken SamanDigital Health entrepreneur and CEO of Personify Care (an organisation that enables health services to rapidly convert proven clinical protocols into seamless digital patient experiences).
CEO Australasian Institute of Digital Health and partner at Healthcare Ventures which is a social impact fund, that invests in people and technologies that will democratise and advance the data and technology revolution of healthcare.
Michelle Michelle Perugini has a PhD in Medicine, and has founded two global AI tech companies, the first of which was acquired by EY in 2015. Michelle is now Co-Founder and CEO of Presagen, an AI healthtech scaleup connecting a global network of clinics and their medical data to build scalable AI products to improve women’s health outcomes globally.
