MedTech SuperConnector Newsletter
June 2020
We are excited to be sharing a first look at the learnings and impact from Cohort One & Two of the accelerator programme. As part of the knowledge exchange programme of work the team commissioned an independent researcher to carry out an evaluation of each cohort producing reports focusing on accelerator design, setup and management including venture & HEI experience of participation. Consortium member Greta Paa-Kerner from Buckinghamshire New University provides an overview of the reports in our latest blog post.
MTSC team also said farewell to Cohort Three with an interactive peer-to-peer session hearing from Jack Herrington on the challenges & benefits of pivoting, Nuria Oliva-Jorge’s experience of learning to pitch to different customers and Ben Storey’s journey from sketches in a notebook to his first viable prototype. We wish them all the best and will continue to stay in touch, sharing their success stories along the way.
As Cohort Three ends we will be welcoming the next cohort of participants in early July meeting the challenge, Future of Pain, with technologies ranging from preventative tools & devices to novel solutions for describing and mapping the experience of pain. We look forward to making a formal announcement in mid-July.
In this issue:
- Collaboration and networking on Cohort Three
- Connecting Capabilities: Impacts in Cohorts One & Two
- In the spotlight; good news stories
- Cohort Four – A digital first cohort
- On target: A clever catheter to treat brain diseases
Please feel free to forward this newsletter on to a colleague or contact that would find it useful.
Collaboration and networking on Cohort Three
When Cohort Three kicked off last October with a three-day entrepreneurial boot camp the world was quite a different place but despite the challenges over the last quarter the participants have continued to develop their technologies, speak to customers and ultimately sustained their entrepreneurial journeys.
This eight-month programme has seen remarkable successes and collaborations across the consortium institutions along with alumni network building. Highlighting three of the ventures Eleni Assargiotis from Imperial College London has taken deep-dive into their stories.
Connecting Capabilities: Impacts from Cohorts One & Two
Feeding into the Knowledge Exchange programme of activities we are excited to have published two separate retrospective reports on Cohorts One and Two of the accelerator programme. Focusing on key metrics, successes and learnings each report sheds light on the challenges and best practice outcomes of each cohort with recommendations for future iterations of the accelerator programme.
Greta Paa-Kerner, Head of Business Engagement at Buckinghamshire New University, summarizes the key findings in our latest blog post.
In the spotlight; good news stories
- Congratulations to Affect.AI, CharcoLtd (TheMoment), unhindr, VUI Diagnostics for reaching the semi-finals of the Mayor’s Entrepreneur Competition! Wishing each team the best of luck at the next round of pitches
- Also, good luck to Nuria Oliva-Jorge who is a finalist for the WoundShark Competition and will be pitching at the virtual Wound Healing Society meeting next month.
- Great news from Arthronica on the CE approval of their AI-powered diagnostic software for arthritis
- Congratulations to Mechatronics in Medicine lab at Imperial for winning The President’s Awards for Excellence in Research 2020. You can read more about group member and Cohort Three alumni Riccardo’s entrepreneurial journey and Neoptera Surgical below.
Cohort Four: A digital first cohort
Next month we are looking forward to welcoming the next cohort onto the Challenge led Accelerator programme with over 10 ventures from across seven of our consortium institutions. This will be our largest cohort yet and will be delivered entirely digitally starting with a four day boot camp spread over two weeks followed by masterclasses, monthly venture review sessions and Innovation Navigator sessions plugged in along the way.
Working with GSK Consumer Healthcare Next & Beyond teams to define the challenge, Future of Pain, attracted a great diversity in applications and is subsequently reflected in cohort itself.
We will be making a formal announcement on the final cohort in mid-July.
On target: A clever catheter to treat brain diseases
MTSC alumni Riccardo Secoli recent feature by Imperial College London Enterprise Division highlights the impact of customer discovery and entrepreneurship on research. Riccardo and his colleagues’ venture Neoptera Surgical is developing technology to help surgeon’s access their patient’s brains more easily and safely using a flexible, steerable catheter that can accurately deliver a variety of treatments to specific areas of the brain.
Imperial College London Techcelerate Showcase, December 2018
In Riccardo’s own words, “As an academic, you might think your research is beautiful and it will change the world. But when you look at whether it’s actually possible to commercialise the work, you might find out that what you’ve discover isn’t really needed.”
By Augusta Critchley
Article text (exluding photos or graphics) © MedTech SuperConnector. Photos and graphics subject to third party copyright used with permission of © MedTech SuperConnector