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Sarah Fisher, Director Global Markets, External Innovation, Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices

IVC Healthcare Chapter Chair

 

A wave of bold entrepreneurship is disrupting the healthcare industry. Agile companies are putting traditional players under pressure. We are all aware of the exponential growth in technology and the convergence of verticals that are reshaping many industries. Coupled with this are new approaches to raising capital, such as ICOs for blockchain based businesses or quantitative data modelling as presented in the keynote by Thomas Thurston of WR Hambrecht Ventures at the last Tech Tour Growth Summit.

 

In order to meet and evaluate these new arrivals we need to broaden our vision. In recent years, the IVC membership base has seen an increasing number of strategists engaging with the community and joining the Club. This has enhanced the value for existing members and challenged some of our existing perspectives on the future of venture.

 

This year’s Healthtech Summit attracted 246 nominations and 161 applications. We united 40 selected scale-ups with around 80 VCs and CVCs including our peers at Siemens, Bayer, Medtronic, Boston Scientific, Novartis and Roche.

 

We have a number of regional Venture Forums in the autumn and we look forward to uniting the top quartile entrepreneurs at the European Venture Contest Final on the 10-11 December in Dusseldorf. I very much hope to see you there and to explore the next frontier of innovation.

 

Additional links: EVC Final 2018

Healthtech Summit 2019