A new video details how we’re working with a leading group of universities to support MedTech startups.
The film was recorded at a recent four-day programme hosted by SETsquared and KSS AHSN, where innovators were able to receive valuable support in developing and testing their business strategies.
Known as The Health Innovation Programme (HIP), the initiative is a comprehensive business support programme designed for healthcare and life science businesses at various stages of development.
It offers expert-led workshops that help healthcare entrepreneurs build pitching skills, write a compelling business plan, navigate the NHS landscape and find funding sources.
Driving development
Tim Doidge, Pitching Coach and Business Mentor, SETsquared, said that the HIP helps businesses get to the next stage in their development.
“The programme introduces the companies to various business mentors who can teach them how to put a business plan together and get to the next stage, which probably would involve trying to raise investment,” he said.
Among the innovations being developed to improve patient care were plans for community based health checks, a new approach to glaucoma care, an innovative stent design and a digital solution for services that manage musculoskeletal patients.
Adrian Braine, Entrepreneur in Residence, SETsquared, said that the programme helps innovators to see the bigger picture.
“We generally find that people coming into the programme are very focused on the product and its features,” he explained.
“What we do is get them to take a step back to determine what the company is about and articulate why others should care about what they do. We’re then able to give them a systematic process that they can use to evaluate their business idea.”
A partnership approach
KSS AHSN and the three other Academic Health Science Networks in the South of England joined forces with SETsquared in 2014 to set up this pioneering programme. It aims to enable effective and better value healthcare technologies to benefit patients quicker than ever.
As well as finding out more about the NHS as a marketplace and understanding how their product fits into it, delegates get the chance to polish their sales pitch and receive top-class mentoring advice from a range of experts during a ‘speed mentoring’ session.
Rebecca Porter, MD of BlueKit Medical, was one of the 12 entrepreneurs taking part in the event. Her company provides a range of Single-Use Procedure Packs.
“We’re at a stage now where we want to get ourselves in front of investors so having that time and preparation to make a good pitch is fantastic, and the speed mentoring and feedback on the presentations and pitches was priceless,” she said.
Find out more about SETsquared: www.setsquared.co.uk
