MedTech Innovator, the largest accelerator of medical devices in the world, in partnership with Asia Pacific Medical Technology Association (APACMed), the first and only regional association to provide a unified voice for the medical technology industry, has announced that Cartosense, Healthy Networks, Remidio, Sporogenics, and X-Zell have been selected as finalists to compete for the title of the 2020 Asia Pacific Grand Prize winner, out of more than 170 applicants. Attendees of the competition finals will virtually vote for the Grand Prize of $150,000 which will be presented along with over $100,000 in additional awards on November 18 during a joint event hosted by MedTech Innovator in partnership with APACMed.

The five finalist companies are developing transformative medical technology innovations in the areas of neurology, pulmonology, ophthalmology, and oncology.

• Cartosense is developing a portable, affordable, and highly flexible surgical navigation for neurosurgery. The company is based in Chennai, India.
• Healthy Networks is developing the world’s most affordable smart stethoscope for lungs — detecting disease early to save lives. The company is based in Talinn, Estonia.
• Remidio is developing an FDA 510k exempted, patented, non-mydriatic, smartphone-based portable retinal imaging device. The company is based in Bengaluru, India.
• Sporogenics is developing a biodegradable implantable device for postsurgical anti-adhesion and anti-carcinomatosis application. The company is based in Singapore.
• X-Zell is developing an accurate, affordable, and globally scalable early cancer detection from a small, 10mL blood samples. The company is based in Singapore.

During the competition finals on Wednesday, November 18 each of the five companies will have seven minutes to pitch their technology and answer questions before a virtual panel of five judges. After the presentations, the online live audience will vote in real-time to select the winners. The first-place startup will take home a US$150,000 non-dilutive cash prize. The other four finalists will each receive a US$10,000 cash prize. There will also be a SG$30,000 non-dilutive grant and an invitation to join the qualifying round at the SLINGSHOT competition in Singapore awarded by Enterprise Singapore. Other prizes include a one-year residency awarded by JLABS @ Shanghai and the Oliver Healthcare Packaging Sterile Barrier System Design & Development Award.

Judges include Kiyoshi Miyake, Senior Expert, Technology Scouting and Collaboration, Office of CTO, Olympus; Peter Hawkes, Head of Business Development, Asia Pacific, Johnson & Johnson; Julie Tay, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Align Technology; Florian Belohlavek, Head of Strategy, Marketing and Sales, Asia Pacific, Siemens Healthineers; Tomoko Ishikura, Business Development Advisor, Nipro Corporation.

Together with the senior leadership teams of its corporate partners and other judges, MedTech Innovator evaluated more than 170 applications for its Asia Pacific program this year and selected 35 candidates to advance for virtual meetings via Zoom. 20 companies were then selected to participate in the Asia Pacific Accelerator program, which prominently features the most innovative medtech startups from the region.

MedTech Innovator’s 2020 Asia Pacific program sponsors include Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies, Align Technology, Nipro Medical Corporation, Oliver Healthcare Packaging, Olympus Medical Systems Group, Siemens Healthineers, and Enterprise Singapore. The MedTech Innovator Asia Pacific Program is held in partnership with APACMed.