Medical device meet up

Continuing our series of guest blogs from people we’ve worked with recently, here’s a blog from Arun Muthirulan, Accelerator India, about an exciting event in Bangalore a few weeks ago…

Feb 5^th 2013. Bangalore played host to RiffStream#, a very interesting “event”, focused on companies from UK and India operating in the medical devices, equipment and affordable & scalable medical technology sector.

RiffStream# events are designed to be high-energy, interactive ‘experiences’ with players from across the complete industry eco-system and I found RiffStream#Bangalore to be no exception. It had a wide range of individuals and companies across the medical devices value chain, ranging from medical device companies, systems integrators, investors, entrepreneurs, advisors, and clinicians. With such a diverse set of participants, no wonder that the discussions were lively and insightful, bringing a range of perspectives from across the medical devices and medical technology industry.

Having been involved right from the initial planning of the programme to its delivery in India, I found it heartening to see a number of UK companies showcase innovative products, evolving from the UK’s world-class excellence in research and development, evoke serious interest from the Indian participants. Typical products on display were a next generation diagnostics device for cervical cancer, the number one cancer killer affecting Indian women and a low cost solution for the treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) which in India is a leading cause for blindness through diabetes. Other products presented include single vial delivery of pharma products such as vaccines in a controlled manner and portable medical equipment for wound healing and orthopaedics, urology and surgery.

My favourite part from the event was when a discussion on low-cost medical devices for the Indian market turned towards the international impact of such on innovations. In particular, developed markets grappling with rising medical costs in the context of an ageing population will find such products very attractive. There was a shared realisation from the UK participants that this is a unique way of further refining not only their core product, but also the underlying business model and channels to market to succeed internationally.

Structured to be short and sharp, RiffStream#s are one-day events, but we continued the interactions beyond the main event, into a sumptuous dinner organised at the venue. A number of partnerships evolved from these continuing discussions, resulting in proposals for further collaboration between the UK and Indian companies. I believe that this is just the start of an exciting journey for these companies to explore and expand into the Indian market, making a big difference to people’s lives along the way.

Arun Muthirulan is a co-founder and Director of AcceleratorIndia, the cross border business accelerator between the UK and India.