Malaysian Innovators urged to Innovate, Communicate and Collaborate

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The Malaysian International Healthcare Innovation Conference & Exhibition, MIHICE the second time running this year at Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, Cyberjaya between November 30 and December 1.

MIHICE was spearheaded by Dr. Hooshmand Palany who is not only the Conference Director but also a healthcare specialist for Agensi Innovasi Malaysia. The conference aims to bring people in healthcare and technology under one roof to discuss and share ideas, trends and new discoveries as well as to inspire innovation in the field of medicine and healthcare.

MIHICE was launched by the Minister of Health Malaysia, Datuk S. Subramaniam, who stressed on the importance of conceptualizing ideas in order to provide more efficient and productive healthcare services.

“Putting more money into healthcare is not the solution. It is finding better ways of spending the money that we have, is the solution and that is where innovation comes in.”

Some of the highlights of the conference include presentations on game changing molecular technology in the combat against cancer by, 3D printing of surgical aid and prosthesis which is now used quite extensively in Malaysia, the impact of big data and artificial intelligence in health care. A big portion of the conference was also dedicated to panel discussions about data analytics, business opportunities in healthcare as well as the growing presence of biotechnology in healthcare innovation

The conference also featured winners from the Ministry of Health National Innovation Award Winners in the categories of Services, Processes, Products and Technology. Furthermore, the conference also saw the exchange of MoU Documents and presentation of certificates for the Centre of Excellence in Digital Healthcare and the Healthcare Innovation Challenge Fund.

The message at the end of the conference was clear, Malaysia needs to build an innovative healthcare ecosystem where different industrial player can collaborate with each other. The setting up of platforms to allow young entrepreneurs, innovators, healthcare specialists and enthusiast will definitely bring about new disruptive technologies that are changing the way we see healthcare today.

Let’s Begin, Let’s START Friday

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START Friday is an initiative by START Co-Working space to build a community of entrepreneurs and startup enthusiasts. The aim of START Friday is to bring people together to form a network through START Co-Working Space. Participants who have registered can use the co-working space for free for the whole day. Before the session ends, participants will have the opportunity to attend a special feature talk followed by a networking session.

With two START Friday’s making a successful debut, START Co-Working space hopes to keep the momentum going. The first START Friday featured Wan Chiun and Mable Cheah, the founders of MIK Kefir, a small startup dedicated in making fresh and hand brewed water kefirs which is a vegan, probiotic-rich drink.

The participants had the opportunity to interact with the founders about their product and among the challenges they faced being in the business. Participants also had the opportunity to buy MIK Kefirs at a discounted price here at START throughout the event.

Ngion Mie Chelle from FTalent felt that START Friday has helped her understand a lot more about the importance of networking in a community of startups.

“We are all basically struggling to survive in the industry but we don’t have to struggle alone.”

In the latest edition of START Friday, we had Farrah Azlin Awang, Senior Manager of CIP Catalyst from Cradle Fund Sdn. Bhd. to have a dialogue with the participants about funding opportunities at Cradle. We had a large number of participants from varying fields who participated in this dialogue session. Some takeaways were:

  1. All applicants that meet the requirement will be called to pitch. Applicants are expected to be well versed with their prototype, Applicants are advised not to be defensive over feedback from the judging panel and keep an open mind.
  2. Only applications with a team will be considered for CIP Catalyst. The applicant’s team dynamics is very important in the judging process during the pitch.
  3. The judging panel looks for commercial viability in the prototype. A product survey is not enough and applicant must prove that there is a market for the prototype. For example, a company that provided errand running services tested their prototype using simple text messaging service and the data was used to show commercial viability in their pitch.
  4. Funding will be in reimbursement for expenses agreed upon based on project milestones.

Kenneth from Gaption, a social platform that can help you monetize your social media and content activities, felt that the session helped him understand the offerings by Cradle Fund and some of the best approaches in sending in an application.

“I think many people know of Cradle but they don’t set out to apply maybe because they think they’ll never get it or they have misconceptions of government grants.”

At START Co-Working space, our aim is to bring people together into a community where not only can they learn from each other but also build lasting relationships that will in turn become an network here in Kuala Lumpur. START Friday will indeed be our ongoing initiative and we look forward to seeing you in our next edition.