20 healthcare entrepreneurs selected to exhibit innovations at WISH Summit 2022

The World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), Qatar Foundation’s global healthcare initiative has announced 20 healthcare entrepreneurs from 13 different countries to showcase their healthcare innovations at its 2022 summit.

These innovators have been selected from nearly 600 applicants of this year’s WISH Innovation Competitions, comprising two categories; Spark (early-stage startups) and Booster (established startups looking to scale).Among this year’s 10 winners of the Spark category are Neurosoft Bioelectornics (Switzerland), developers of high resolution soft brain-implantable electrodes; Sequegenics (US), who have created a new approach that cuts the time and cost of DNA-sequencing; as well as Glovi (Lebanon), a laser technology integrated machine to unpack gloves for medical personnel to prevent surgical infections.Among the 10 winners of the Booster category are Smiletronix (Spain), an intraoral Artificial Intelligence (AI) imaging device that can diagnose oral diseases within 15 seconds without needing to visit a dentist; inHeart (France), an AI-enabled 3D imaging solution that creates a digital twin of a patient’s heart to help plan and guide cardiac intervention for those with arrhythmias; and Amprologix (UK), which has developed a novel, microbiome-sparing antibiotic candidate with the potential to treat infectious diseases that are resistant to the current antibiotic drugs. WISH holds a biennial gathering of global leaders, healthcare policymakers, practitioners, and industry experts to tackle the world’s most urgent healthcare challenges. Ahead of every summit, WISH invites healthcare innovators worldwide to apply for its Innovation Competitions, which culminate in qualifying applicants winning the opportunity to exhibit at the summit. This year, WISH received the largest number of applications to date, and has supported 130 innovators from 25 countries through the competitions so far. “Every cycle, we notice some commonalities among the startups that apply for our competitions, which are shaped by wider trends we are seeing develop within the healthcare industry. This year, we’ve seen a lot more applicants looking to integrate AI and machine learning into their products to create more accurate, cheaper, and personalised treatment plans for patients, with a particular focus on supporting and developing preventative rather than curative medicine,” said Mahmoud El Achi, head of innovation, WISH.The innovators will receive a myriad of benefits during the WISH 2022 Summit, including the opportunity to network with investors and global health leaders, policymakers, and other innovators at a global stage. Additionally, WISH will provide mentoring workshops on topics such as business modelling, gaining customer traction, and marketing, as well as media support for up to a year. During the summit, WISH will announce the top two out of the 20 innovators, who will win $15,000 to help expand their startups.