Organized by a startup accelerator “iDealMachine,” this meeting was dedicated to medicine innovation. Speakers talked about theneeds of the market, health care startups, innovation using and the most noticeable trends in medicine. The main partner of the “iDoMa” was “Founder Institute”, the largest startup accelerator in the world.
The agenda of “iDoMa” focused on the healthcare market issues that appeared because of the overall tendency to keep a healthy lifestyle. Pavel Pravdin, the head of St. Petersburg branch of the “Founder Institute,” opened the meeting with a report on principles of startup making. He said that a bright idea is not enough for a successful business. It is very important to promote a product and attract investors. It is a widespread mistake when a business team consists of people with similar skills. Partners have to complement each other.
Andrey Semashenkov, IT director of multibusiness medical company «EMC», talked about health care trends and innovation in this field. He also noted the disadvantages that hamper the development of medicine.
“Good communication skills are necessary for a physician because it is impossible to question a patient about his health without a close contact with him. Unfortunately it is a pain point of Russian medicine”.
He also discussed ways to motivate medical personnel, including a survey filled out by patients after their treatment, and a consequent ranking system.
Dmitri Kurapeev, co-founder and general director of “RuHealth.Net” and head of communications for Almazov Institute, shared his life hacks about developing successful startups. He noted telemedicine as one of the promising areas. One of the steps can be adding patients’ data to a central database accessible by every doctor. This would help doctors prepare for initial visits and decrease the overall cost of healthcare.
Ivan Chekh, ITMO University alum and founder of “Motorica,” said that his company was the first to work in the space of children’s prosthesis as well as make products for adults in Russia. Up until recently, children in Russia were likely to receive cosmetic and not functional prosthesis to hide their problem area as opposed to help them function with it and overcome challenges.
Using 3D modeling, “Motorica” makes unique prosthesis based on the individual measurement. People can take in their home, using special instructions, and send to the company. In more complicated cases, a patient is invited for a personal appointment with a specialist where the affected extremity is scanned to build the unique design.
“We think that a child should understand that a trauma is not a limitation. It gives him or her additional opportunities unavailable to others. With a help of an artificial limb we try to turn a child into a superhero or an incredible. We also show to both parents and children how to expand the capabilities of their prosthesis. You can even outfit it with additional features such a shoulder pocket for a cell phone or a toy pistol, or a snowball former. “
Vladimir Mitrofanov, head of the United Medical Portal, talked about the functions of the site, such being able to set doctor appointments at a convenient time. The company is growing fast to include private clinics across Russia. The most important thing is that a patient doesn’t have to make additional contacts, Mitrofanov noted. After submitting an application, he or she gets a text message and it’s done.
According to the speakers, the most amazing, useful and commercially viable products in medicine are impossible without rapid advances in IT.
Polina Poleschuk
News portal editorial office