MedTech BEST Final 2017

The final session of MedTech BEST 2017 saw two teams pitching before a judging panel for investment in their technology and product. In keeping with the ethos of MedTech BEST, these products (and investment!) were hypothetical but had to be plausible and grounded in real science to address a real market and real clinical need. Teams also produced an Investment Memo that was provided to the judges in the days before the pitch final.

EnginEar Limited (Ben Golland, Will Jones, Paige Buckley and Elizabeth Young) pitched their CleaRing® technology and product line for the correction of tinnitus.  This is a discrete, completely-in-the-canal Class 2a medical device designed to treat all forms of tinnitus – mild to moderate to severe – capable of addressing the whole tinnitus market.  CleaRing emits a non-auditory wave, the technology for which is patent protected, unnoticeable to the user, so that the overactive firing in the auditory cortex - responsible for tinnitus - is returned to a resting state.

Oaks and Acorns Healthcare Limited (Lekha Koria, Hannah Pape, Adam Kelly, Ella Mencel, and Roxanne Dyer) pitched their Acorn Baby Monitoring System which uses advanced biosensors and integrated software as wearable technology for the monitoring of premature babies. Sensors are woven within the fabric of a smart Babygro so that key variables (heart rate, breathing rate, temperature and blood oxygen) can be tracked and delivered as live reports to doctors, nurses and even the parents via novel software and a mobile app.

Course organiser, Professor Mike Raxworthy commented “We’ve covered a lot of ground and had some really good talks from external experts on the steps needed when taking an idea from the lab through to commercialisation.  Those that have stayed with MedTech BEST have risen to the challenge and shown they can apply entrepreneurial thinking and deliver a convincing pitch.  These are skills much sought by our industry.”