Five Young MedTech Companies Get $20,000 Boost in MedTech’s Got Talent Pitch Competition

MELBOURNE, Australia - Dec. 5, 2013 - PRLog -- After a gruelling month of mentorship and workshops, sixteen semifinalists pitched their medtech business ideas to a room of industry experts and investors. This gala dinner held on 5 December was the culmination of the first phase of ‘MedTech's Got Talent’, a program designed by STC (the Small Technologies Cluster) and supported by the Victorian Government’s Department of State Development, Business and Innovation as an initiative of the Enabling Technologies Skills Strategy – Small Technologies.

The five finalists that emerged will each receive $20,000 to support their participation in the second stage of ‘MedTech’s Got Talent’, a program aimed at supporting early-stage innovative advanced technology businesses and fledgling entrepreneurs. Each winning team can use these funds to support things like prototype development, expert consultants to assist with strategy development, or other costs that will enable them to build a strong technology roadmap and prepare an investor due diligence package over the course of an intense two-month accelerator program. Each team will receive deep mentorship from industry experts in becoming seed investment ready (Jordan Green, Melbourne Angels), developing a viable business case (Bryce Steele, Enterprise Accelerators), and clinical insights (Aubrey Almeida, Epworth Hospital).

The five finalists include:

·         Danielle Bartolini (with team member Frank Bartolini, mentored by Geoff Rogers with Intellimedical) – Lighting the Way to New Bandage Application

·         Paul Savage (mentored by Alexander Gosling with Capstone Partners) – Cardiovascular Imaging in a New Light

·         Marita Cheng (with team member Charles Korn, mentored by Luke Martin with Design + Industry) – Robotic Arms for People in Wheelchairs

·         Thomas Oxley (with team member , mentored by Peter Lewis with Hydrix) – Minimally Invasive Brain Machine Interface for Bionic Limbs

·         Alen Keirnan (with team member Adrian Lim, mentored by STC’s Buzz Palmer and Laura Faulconer) – The New Rule for Anaphylaxis, Save a Life, Not a Thumb

“The ambition, dedication and professionalism demonstrated by all semifinalists was inspiring to see,” said Laura Faulconer, STC’s COO. “We suspected there was a need for this type of support to convert promising ideas into promising start-up companies, but we have been totally overwhelmed with the quantity of brilliant ideas and brilliant entrepreneurs. This is what Victoria’s innovation ecosystem is all about.”

The Service Sponsors of the challenge are providing valuable in kind support to challenge participants: Cochlear, Griffith Hack, Second Nature, Leadership Management Australasia and BioMelbourne Network. We are also working closely with marketing and media partners UniGateway, BioMelbourne Network, Startup Smart, MTAA, NICTA, ICT for Life Sciences, York Butter Factory, SEMIP and the Australian Centre for Health Innovation.