China, we’re coming back!

Written by Tjasa Zajc on June 16, 2017. Posted in China, MEDICA, Trends.

Medical Fair China saw the successful launch of the FTR4H platform at the 2nd China Medical Innovation Forum in Suzhou from June 10 to 11 2017.

The FTR4H Talk & Lounge was a combination of an inviting meeting spot – where Startups, Corporates, VCs and other Digital Health aficionados mingled and discussed the Future for Health in a market like China – with a half-day session in the conference forum on the latest developments in Health-Tech.

FTR4H Talk & Lounge

The partners of the FTR4H Talk & Lounge covered the whole spectrum of the Digital Health Continuum. We had hospitals, researchers, startups and corporates sharing their latest products, services and ideas around how Mobile, IOT, AI and Data are transforming the healthcare sector.

Special focus was put on elderly care with the support of digital solutions, which is a worldwide, not only Chinese challenge. Dr. Junhua Hu, CEO of DARMA INC, a Shenzhen based Digital Health Startup grown up in the famous HAX accelerator ecosystem, rocked the stage with valuable insights and a comparison of the US and Chinese markets.

Sebastien Gaudin from the Shanghai based startup The CareVoice, explained, how close HealthTech and InsureTech are, with demoing the partnership with AXA on the field of a trusted and reliable platform to improve patient experience.

The highlight of our FTR4H inaguration in China was a Fire Side Chat moderated by Mr. Mobile and FTR4H Chief Evangelist, Mark Wächter. All participants agreed, that the Golden Age for Digital Health in China is just beginning.

FTR4H society will be back for sure at Medical Fair China in Suzhou in September 2018!

In the meantime, we will establish a network of digital health movers & shakers in China. We are proud that we won Junhua as our first FTR4H Ambassador in and for this unique market. He will start to extend the FTR4H society now – watch out 🙂

A FTR4H opportunity for those in the Balkan region!

Written by Tjasa Zajc on May 21, 2017. Posted in MEDICA, Mobile.

FTR4H is spreading its wings around the globe! After debuting at SXSW in March, we held a conference and a startup competition in India. We did quite a bit of research on the Indian market, so be sure to check all out blogposts about it!

Our next official stop is in China in June, but just before that, we are supporting an event in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The INFUSE Digital Health Networking Event for startups and experts, is taking place on May 26th in Ljubljana.

The event is organized by a medical journal Medicina danes and Technology Park Ljubljana – largest innovation ecosystem for commercialisation of knowledge and technology in SE Europe – in collaboration with the Slovenian Medtech community Healthday.si.
It is sponsored by MARAND, Bayer, MDNA, EU and SPIRIT Slovenia.

Here’s what’s on the menu:

Event moderator: Tjaša Zajc, Medicina Danes

17.00 WELCOME SPEECH; Tjaša Zajc, Journalist & conference moderator

17.15 – VIDEO: How is New Delhi hacking public health with mHealth

Q&A PANEL AND COMMENT: Where are we in eHealth compared to developing countries? What can we learn from them and each other?

mag. Katarina Kralj, Head of eHealth coordination at Ministry of Health Slovenia
Ozren Pezo, independent expert for eHealth, former Assistant Director for ICT at Croatian Health Insurance Fund HZZO

The Q&A will be moderated by Dorjan Marušič, Practicing Cardiologist, Former Member of the Expert Panel at European Commission DG for Health and Consumers (DG Sanco).

17.45 – CHIT CHAT with dr. Axel Polack: The hype around big data, genetic testing and gene modification technologies: progress or resurfacing of eugenics?

18.00 – KEYNOTE: Digital Health Trends: Forget the numbers, where is the impact?

Jesus del Valle, Head of Bayer’s Grants4Apps Accelerator

18.15 – PANEL: Rethinking the patient/customer, payment models, funding options

Dr. Jesus del Valle, Head of Bayer’s Grants4Apps Accelerator
Dr. Klaus Stöckemann, Managing Partner at Peppermint Venture Partners
Dorjan Marušič, Practicing Cardiologist, Former Member of the Expert Panel at European Commission DG for Health and Consumers (DG Sanco)
Stanislav Sirakov, Partner at LAUNCHub
Dr. Axel Polack, General Partner at the Joint Polish Investment found
Alex Farcet, Co-founder of Startupbootcamp – global network of industry focused startup accelerators

Details about the JURY MEMBERS of the Startup Competition at the INFUSE Digital Health Networking Event are available here.

19.00 – BREAK BEFORE THE “LAST CALL for Grants4Apps Startup Competition”

19.30 – STARTUP PITCH COMPETITION

20.30 – JURY DELIBERATION & AWARD CEREMONY

21.00 – NETWORKING PARTY TIME

Startups in all stages are invited to pitch at INFUSE.

It’s no secret around 80% of startups die after two years, due to lack of experience and funding. Accelerator programs get hundreds of applications and the majority of companies don’t even get a chance to present their solution in person. At INFUSE you can increase those odds. By getting feedback from the decision makers, you can gain visibility, make new valuable contacts and increase you chances to get funding.

Three startups pitching will be chosen:

– one will get shortlisted for Startupbootcamp, which gives accepted teams mentorship and 15.000 euros,

– one will get shortlisted for Grants4Apps, which gives accepted teams mentorship and 50.000 euros,

– one more developed will get a booth at MEDICA Trade Fair in Düsseldorf in November, at FTR4H Lab&Lounge in the US Pavilion!

The commercial price of a spot in the Future for Health Lab & Lounge at MEDICA is 3.000 USD. Future for Health (FTR4H) is a global Think Tank on Digital Health.

This is the mindset you need in the digital health world

Written by Tjasa Zajc on April 19, 2017. Posted in Weblog.

In 2010, an idea was born: to build an army of entrepreneurs to improve healthcare worldwide. That was the beginning of StartUp Health. According to their data, in five years, the organization grew to an allegiance of more than 30,000 investors, entrepreneurs and customers from all over the globe.

As is explained by its co-founder, Unity Stoakes, 4000 startups have tried to get in Startup Health so far, but only 180 have made it. What are they looking for?

10 specific problems

StartUp Health supports companies working in at least one of the so-called moonshots. (PICTURE)

Mindset

In the competitive process of choosing new entrants, the essential criterion is the mindset of the entrepreneur. They are looking for those that have a clear idea why they are doing what they are doing, who think long-term, want to work collaboratively, and are “batteries-included”.

The most important characteristics are passion, motivation, energy. “Most of the entrepreneurs we are working with are entering healthcare not because they would want to get rich, but because they – often due to personal reasons – care deeply about the problem they are solving.”

Perseverance

Are you someone who brings energy into the room or are you draining it out of the room? If you’re in the first group, you have a chance to get into StartUp Health. As emphasised by Mr. Stoakes, “this attracts customers and investors. A positive, hopeful attitude attracts other people with similar way of thinking.”

Long-term partnerships

StartUp Health is backed by Google, Amazon, Keiser Permanente, Cleveland Clinic, Allianz, SAP and other prominent corporations with which they have formed multi-year strategic relationships aimed at creating opportunities for capital and means of scaling solutions.

“We don’t believe in the model of short-term random mentorships programs,” says Mr. Stoakes, emphasizing they only want to work with partners that have a transformative mindset from the top down. These are organisations focusing on external innovation, because they understand real change comes from collaboration.

Find out more by listening to my conversation with Unity Stoakes in Medicine Today on Digital Health.

You can find, listen, subscribe, rate, follow, share the podcast in Soundcloud or in iTunes, follow news about it on Medium.

Opportunities in India from the VC perspective

Written by Tjasa Zajc on April 7, 2017. Posted in Data, India, MEDICA, Mobile.

“Just creating an app does not mean you have a company. The key key question is: are you solving a problem?” These were the opening words of Pradeep K. Jaisingh, Founder of HealthStart India, at the VC Panel at #FTR4H program at MEDICAL FAIR India in New Delhi. Panel was organised by HealthStart. The main aim was to highlight VC perspective on the digital health startups scene in India.

As said by Mr. Jaisingh, the basic background of technology needs to be that it improves the outcome. A solution needs to solve a problem and be sustainable. From the macro perspective, potential for disruptive innovation in India is big, said Mr. Jaisingh. Especially in terms of diagnostics, treatment and management of chronic diseases.

The doctor’s expectations in the near future are high. Artificial intelligence can be utilized to effectively synthesize patient information before his visit in the hospital or a doctor’s office.

What do the doctors need?

Private Equity Professional Mayur Sirdesai, Director at Somerset Indus Capital Partners, warned, the key issue in digital health technology and innovation is probability of adoption. “When a doctor has a line of patients in the waiting room, he can’t be bothered by entering data in the computer,” he mentioned. The second challenge is payment for digital solutions. Revenue model of a startup is crucial to implementation of a solution in practice. In India, most payments are still out of pocket which might change with the development of the insurance market.

From the perspective of Shuchin Bajaj, Founder Director at Cygnus Medicare, a big potential in India is in putting more effort into medical education of other specialists and healthcare providers, apart from doctors. “We are to doctor-centric. I am a big fan of personalized medicine and “ayurveda” in that sense. These sciences look at the patient as an individual while medicine takes the patient as a dataset. Ayurveda does not treat the disease,” he said.

Needs and payments

Partha Dey, Healthcare Leader and SME at IBM India mentioned the need for more collaboration: “It is clear and we agree we need to walk together and collaborate. Technology can work as a platform and our idea is to use it to solve real life problems. We are working on longterm solutions. The first issue is always the business case. What do users need? What are they prepared to pay for? A lot of startups have ideas, but struggle with translation and implementation in practice.”

Vikram Gupta, Founder and Managing Partner at IvyCap Ventures Advisors described India as a unique market because of the payment system. “In the developed world insurance takes care of healthcare. Our environment drives behaviour. Hence healthcare consumption is different compared to the rest of the world. The opportunities here are of different nature than in other countries. One thing to look at is infrastructure. Ratio of hospitals does not match population needs.” Huge opportunities lay in financial assistance for healthcare, concluded Vikram Gupta.

Meet our startups!

Written by Tjasa Zajc on April 6, 2017. Posted in India, MEDICA, Mobile, Weblog.

8 start-ups are present at our FTR4H lounge at MEDICAL FAIR INDIA in New Delhi. They are:

Focus 1: Children’s health

iNICU !!!WINNER OF THE #FTR4H INDIA AWARD !!!!!

iNICU stands for ‘Integrated Neonatal Intensive Care Unit’. The solution is leveraging IOT and Big Data,connecting generated source data from various devices.

iNICU is a one stop workflow solution to assimilate and disseminate neonate information. The application is designed to help improve management of all responsibilities of various professionals (Nurse, Resident Doctor, Senior Doctor, Pediatrician and Administrator) involved in the care of a baby.

growupright

A solution for an important but hitherto ignored area – Student Wellness. It helps monitor, track and control children’s wellness in school, making it easier for parents and teachers recognize struggles of specific students. This makes it easier for the carers to find ways to help students cope with their problems easier and make most of their potentials.

Focus 2: data optimization, presentation, utilization

Vertes Cloud

Empowering transformation along enterprises in various verticals, mainly in the field of Education & Learning solutions. A mixed approach with Open Source & proprietary offerings enable institutions achieve higher levels of transformation, in much affordable way.
Abda Digital

Abda Digital (a Tech Vedika Pvt. Ltd. spin off) has been establish with vision to develop innovative products specifically for the mobile and digital space. The inception of Abda in November 2015 marked commitment to focus on product ideas that could help organizations communicate with their target audiences in the best way using less time.

Focus 3: Women’s health

Doc n me

Management software for obstetricians and gynecologists is offering End-to-End Solution to all ObGyn Practice Management Challenges. This solutions offers a new way of communication between the expecting mother, obstetricians and gynecologists. Between visits in the doctors office, the mother can ask questions with the help of a platform.

Focus 4: Cardiology, trackers, sensors

Cardiotrack

Cardiotrack brings portability to healthcare diagnostics. Cardiotrack health sensors provide clinical grade reading for 12-lead ECG, SpO2 and blood pressure. Robust design makes Cardiotrack an ideal solution for home healthcare, tele-health, doctor’s clinic, nursing home or primary healthcare.

A3RMT

This solution is altering the delivery of critical life saving health care monitoring during emergency and preventive diagnostic capabilities. This is done at a much lower price-performance points, thanks to innovative synthesis of digital signal processing, image processing, biomedical components, algorithms, wireless and communication technologies. The first sets of solutions are in the realm of wireless remote patient monitoring.

Track my beat

TrackMyBeat is a healthcare technology and analytics company, offering a complete health and wellness management system. It focuses on the prevention of lifestyle diseases. The subscriber can proactively manage his or her health through automated alerts. The product also highlights the efficacy of various interventions and activities in improving the user’s well-being.

Top 5 things on healthcare business in India

Written by Tjasa Zajc on April 3, 2017. Posted in India, IoT, MEDICA, Mobile.

FTR4H is in full preparations for MEDICAL FAIR INDIA 2017. Before arrival, we talked to Incubators, Companies, Start-ups, Experts… Here’s what you might find useful if you’re thinking about doing business in India.

1. Make good market research

India ranked at 130 out of 189 economies in 2015 according to the World bank. 4% of the GDP go to healthcare; around 60% of expenses for healthcare are out of pocket, according to OECD. Almost a third of the population is supposed to own a smartphone by 2019, claims GSMA report. All this goes in favour to digital health or at least mHealth solutions, but keep in mind plenty of good startups on the ground are busy tackling everyday issues.

The country is extensively working on using all the advantages of digital solutions to improve people’s lives and health. Heard of Aadhar? It’s unique-identity number issued to all Indian residents based on their biometric and demographic data such as eyes and finger prints. Nishal Arvind Singh, Founder NASS & Associates IPR Boutique law firm and Legal policy advisor to Honourable Health Minister Satyendra Jain of the Delhi Government explains the plan behind the project: “All payments will be linked with aadhar, to avoid duplicity, promote increase in online payments and disbursement to beneficiaries under many governmental schemes for education, pension etc. This will enable direct transactions into beneficiaries bank account, which will prevent corruption,” says Arvind, adding that in time, it will be connected with healthcare. The unique identification number of a person will prevent duplication and confusion in data management and insurance claimes with others with the same name.

2. Do you have enough time for business here?

According to a World bank report from 2006, it takes 56 procedures and approximately four years for a simple commercial contract in India. As explained by Prabhu Guptara, a distinguished Professor of Global Business, Management & Public Policy at William Carey University, India, a Member of Boards of different companies in the UK, Germany and Switzerland, the problem is the bureaucratic system. It takes years for the legal claims to be processed, let alone enforced. It is a slow system, so brace yourself with energy and patience to conquer it.

3. Know that India has very good medical doctors

Top class. World renowned. There’s a reason medical tourism flourishes here. However, as Sachin Gaur warns, 80% of people live in rural areas and only 20% of facillites are there. There are different initiatives to improve access, such as the the mohalla (neighbourhood) clinics. As explained by the hindustantimes, they were started with the aim of taking diagnostics and treatment of simple ailments to people’s doorstep and reduce the footfall in tertiary care hospitals.

4. Can you make a subscription plan under a dollar a month?

India has 1.3 billion people, the majority is poor. “2/3 of the population can’t be your target market. 30% of the population lives on less than 2.5 dollars/day, another third 5 dollars/day. Which still leaves you with 400 million people you could address,” says Prabhu Guptara. However, given the number of people, if you can design a subscription model for around 20 cents, than you might address the poorer population, says Sachin Gaur, Director Operation at InnovatioCuris. Taking into account the volume you could reach, it can turn out to be a viable business model.

“If you can design a subscription model for around 20 cents, than you might address the poorer population,” says Sachin Gaur, Director of Operations at InnovatioCuris.

5. Ask, connect to people on the ground

Have you heard of HealthCode.io? It’s a platform for healthcare professionals where you can find people interested in co-creation, consulting, commercialisation, fundraising, mentoring, investing, validation. The app, as the founders claim, already has members from 52 countries, so you might find useful connections even outside India!

Be sure to check the two episodes of Medicine Today on Digital Health! Praphu Guptara speaks about differences in the healthcare systems in India, Switzerland or England. Sachin Gaur talks about the innovative solutions in India and problems of digital solutions and cyber security. You can find it on iTunes or Soundcloud.

FTR4H Program for Digital Health Futurists at MEDICAL FAIR INDIA 2017 is out!

Written by Tjasa Zajc on March 27, 2017. Posted in MEDICA, Weblog.

If you’re a part of the Digital Health universe and based in India, there’s only one place you should be during 6-8 April. MEDICAL FAIR INDIA, taking place in New Delhi, invites you to explore the FTR4H Lab & Lounge at MEDICAL FAIR INDIA 2017, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.

The event is sponsored by: IBM, Intel and eSec Forte.

Our ecosystem partners are: HealthStart, Medhoop, InnovatioCuris, T-hub, ib-hubs, Smart Cities Lab, InnovatioCuris, HealthCode.io.

AGENDA

April 6th (draft):

14:00 – 14:05 Introducing FTR4H / Mark Wächter, FTR4H Chief Evangelist / MWC.mobi

14:05 – 14:20 Digital Health – a global snapshot / Tjaša Zajc, FTR4H Global Audience Developer

14:20 – 14:40 Infrastructure Services for healthcare customers/ Mr Ashish Kothari, Associate Director – Infrastucture Services, IBM Global Technology Services – Cloud

14:40 – 15:00 Digital health Solutions alongside the healthcare continuum / Satish Choudhury, eSec Forte

15:00 – 15:10 DOC n Me / Samidha Garud

15:10 – 15:20 Track My Beat

15:20 – 15:40 Tech Mahindra

15:40 – 16:00 FTR4H Fireside Chat

FTR4H (Future For Health) is an international platform, which enables discussions, meetings, dialogs and networking among thousands of Digital Health start-ups, corporations and investors, including accelerators and media from around the world. We explore how Digital Transformation effects the healthcare industry: Mobile – Feature Phones, Smartphones, Phablets, Tablets, Wearables, VR Headsets, IOT – Internet of Things – Sensors, Drones, Robots, 3D-Printer, Smart Things like Cars and Homes, Data – Smart Data, Self Data, Genomics Data, Safe Data.Future for Health acts as a think tank and definer to connect all global Digital Health Ecosystems in markets like China, Europe, India, Israel and the US with MEDICA – a hashtag to categorize what drives Digital Health: #FTR4H

April 7th (draft):

12:00 – 12:05 Introducing FTR4H / Mark Wächter, FTR4H Chief Evangelist / MWC.mobi

12:05 – 12:20 Digital Health – a global snapshot / Tjaša Zajc, FTR4H Global Audience Developer

*Tjaša Zajc, Journalist, FTR4H Global Audience Developer*

12:20 – 13:20 HealthStart VC Talk

Pradeep K. Jaisingh (Chairman, HealthStart), Apoorva Patni (Currae Healthtech Fund), Mayur Sirdesai (Somerset Indus Capital Partners), Vikram Gupta (IvyCap Ventures Advisors Private Ltd.), Dr. Tarun R (Utilis Capital Advisors)

13:20 – 14:30 LUNCH BREAK

14:30 – 14:50 How Mobile Health restructures healthcare delivery / Kunal Bajaj, Director at eSec Forte

14:50 – 15:10 Digital hospital and Cognitive Technology / Mr Partha Dey, IBM

15:10 – 15:20 Digital Health Trends in Asia and Business Opportunities / Dr Karthik Anantharaman, CMO at BPL Medical Technologies

***MEET, GREET and MINGLE WITH THE DIGITAL HEALTH COMMUNITY***

16:00 – 16:45 Pitches for the FTR4H India Award

16:45 – 16:55 Jury Deliberation*

*The jury:

Dr Vishal Bansal – Investor, Mentor, Technology Enthusiast & Docpreneur

Pradeep K. Jaisingh – Chairman HealthStart India

Mark Wächter – FTR4H Chief Evangelist & Mobile Strategist

Dr. Tarun Ramole – Digital Health Evangelist, Director Utilis Capital

Tjaša Zajc – FTR4H Global Audience Developer & Journalist
Muthu Singaram, CEO, IIT Madras HTIC Incubator

16:55 – 17:10 Award Ceremony

17:15 – 18:00 Mingle and network with the Digital Health community

Join us at our Meet, greet and mingle event. Register HERE.

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Tag: digital health