It’s been great to hear the views, experiences and dreams of such a large variety of people about their ventures. We’ve got participants at different levels of their careers, from PhD students and engineers all the way to consultant cardiologists at the NHS, but we’re all here asking the same questions and learning the same things. At the end of the day, what matters most is that the bootcamp is creating a community of future entrepreneurs who are at the same stage of their journeys. We may all have different backgrounds but it’s been great to connect regardless, as we all have the same aims.
Dr Antonia Pontiki, Teaching Fellow at the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences
12 July 2024
King's MedTech Accelerator kicks off at the London Institute for Healthcare Engineering
The Accelerator launched with a 3-day bootcamp featuring a series of talks and workshops hosted at LIHE. The inaugural cohort includes members of 21 project teams developing novel medical technologies across four Faculties at King's.
The King's MedTech Accelerator is a 6-month, part-time programme for King's researchers and staff focused on transforming research innovations into viable healthcare ventures.
Created and delivered by the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, the programme provides an acceleration stream with specialist support for aspiring entrepreneurs in medical devices, including medical software and AI. A key goal is to foster an entrepreneurial mindset in King's staff geared particularly towards overcoming the complexities of this challenging industry. As one of King’s Accelerator programmes, it is open to staff from across the university, and this year’s inaugural cohort includes participants from FoLSM, FoDOCS, NMES and the IoPPN.
The Accelerator launched this month with a 3-day-long immersive and intensive Bootcamp, organised and delivered by the LIHE team, staff from the School, industry partners, SEHTA and LIHE's Experts in Residence. Highlights included three MedTech founders sharing their entrepreneurial journeys with the cohort, a fireside chat with Dr. Emilie Syed from Parkwalk Advisors, the largest EIS fund manager backing world-changing technologies emerging from the UK’s leading universities and research institutions, about what they look for in ventures before investing; expert sessions in commercial grants and on personal and team resilience, and an engaging exercise in networking.
"Over the three days, we heard from founders, investors, and industry partners, complemented by interactive workshops designed to help our future Venture Scientists develop the necessary mindset to take them wherever they may go on this entrepreneurial journey," said Antoinette Cameron-Pimblett, Research Translation and Innovation Manager at LIHE and Programme Coordinator for the Accelerator.
Over the next six months, the cohort will receive support from the specialist teams at LIHE to develop entrepreneurship skills for advancing medical technologies through commercialisation, as well as practical commercial development experience for MedTech including regulatory considerations, healthcare economics, value proposition design, and market analysis. Participants will also receive training on how to assemble interdisciplinary teams, seek funding and partnerships, and effectively communicate to navigate the MedTech venture journey.
Being an academic for so long, and then trying something outside of academia can be challenging, but we’ve had a great experience with this at the bootcamp. Activities like the speed networking event were wonderful icebreakers, and were great at fostering collaboration within the cohort before we go out and put this in practice with our respective ventures. Hearing from companies that have already been through the process of bringing their innovations to life was also inspiring, and a good exercise in learning from the practical experiences of entrepreneurs rather than learning from theory.
Dr Ernest Kamavuako, Reader in Engineering at the Faculty of Natural, Mathematical and Engineering Sciences
The programme, which runs annually, embodies King’s commitment to advancing MedTech innovations for real-world impact and has been greatly supported by Innovation @ King's and the King’s Entrepreneurship Institute.
In this story
Research Translation & Innovation Manager
Lecturer in Biomedical Engineering Education
Reader in Engineering
Research Associate
Director, Commercial Operations and Partnerships, London Institute for Healthcare Engineering