After 14 weeks, 20 workshops, 300 hours of mentoring with 30+ mentors and a whole lot of support, 10 gamechanging healthtech startups hit the stage to pitch their businesses in front of more than 200 members of the GCHKP innovation ecosystem at LuminaX 2023 Demo Night.
And from an impressive lineup of commercial concepts to improve patient safety, provide VR treatment for complex mental health conditions, streamline nurse recruitment, revolutionise treatment for children with lower limb deformities and more, a trio of Griffith University researchers were named Startup of the Year for YourTrack, a neurodevelopmental assessment tool for children needing developmental support.
Backed by extensive research and with a vision to be powered by AI, YourTrack was developed to track and triage children aged 0-17 years who have developmental concerns. The technology puts neurodevelopmental assessment in the hands of everyday health providers such as GPs and nurses, starting assessment and support earlier, rather than having to wait to rely on specialist paediatricians to assess vulnerable children who are falling behind.
Other clinical assessment tools are largely applicable to young children, but the YourTrack system works for children and adolescents while also providing a greater degree of insight into the extent of a child’s developmental delays.
YourTrack harnesses the power of local health providers so that kids can be ‘diagnosed faster, supported sooner’ and is set to do just that through the commercial acceleration the team achieved through LuminaX.
Professor Dianne Shanley, a clinical psychologist and prominent expert in health service delivery, says the team is excited to have a path towards sharing commercial proceeds from their clinical assessment tool with the community who helped design it.
“The LuminaX journey has been one of the most memorable and engaging learning experiences and we’re so thrilled and surprised to receive the award,” says Professor Shanley.
“The mentoring has helped us to develop a commercial pathway for organisations across the country to access what we’ve co-designed through our research.”
YourTrack Research Manager Dr Wei Liu says LuminaX was invaluable in honing the team’s understanding of customers.
“We reformed our pitch deck, developed our business model and “go to market” strategies, as well as rebranded our logo and website,” says Dr Liu.
“The biggest lesson I learned is to spend time with customers to understand what they want, not what we think they want. Then we present our products as either solving their problems or fulfilling their needs instead of “hard selling” what we have created.
“We’ve successfully attracted several new customers by using this method.”
Dr Erinn Hawkins, who co-developed part of the tracking system with a team in Bangladesh, says they now feel confident to work with partners to make YourTrack Developmental Tracking Systems the most trusted developmental assessment system on the market.
“We believe we can now translate our research outcomes into a commercial product that will help us reach and support the more than one million Australian children with developmental vulnerabilities,” she says.
Alignus team aid surgeries during LuminaX
For the second Griffith University team in the program, biomedical engineer Dr Martina Barzan and clinical researcher Associate Professor Chris Carty of Alignus, LuminaX provided a boost towards the commercial rollout of their world-leading surgery simulation technology to aid orthopaedic surgeries, starting with paediatric patients.
Even during the busy LuminaX program, Dr Barzan worked with surgeons to plan and execute two complex orthopaedic surgeries, taking the total of successful procedures performed with their products to almost 30.
“[In LuminaX] we had access to industry leaders in product development, brand identity and financial modelling, and with the support of the expert LuminaX team, we were able to prepare a compelling pitch that is already attracting investment interest, “says Associate Professor Carty.
“Our next step is to partner with like-minded investors to secure regulatory approval for Alignus products by the end of 2024.”
LuminaX Fan Fave winner optimises nurse recruitment
For nurse Anna Lumb, relocating to Brisbane and searching for the right job sparked her idea to create a dedicated careers marketplace for what she call’s Australia’s almost half-a-million strong “nurseforce”.
Struck by the irony of working in Australia’s most sought-after profession but being unable to connect directly with hospitals to find the right role, Nursify was born. One of six female founders to pitch during the slick Demo Night at Miami Marketta, Lumb was judged ‘Fans Fave’.
LuminaX is a 14-week program that validates and commercialises selected early-stage, high-growth activities applying tech or AI solutions to healthcare, medtech and wellness. Developed and delivered by Cohort Innovation Space, it has the support of major partners the Queensland Government (through Economic Development Queensland and Advance Queensland) and City of Gold Coast.
Griffith University, Mater Hospital, the Queensland AI Hub and IntelliHQ are onboard as industry partners.
Cohort has the full event livestream here.
A 20-year-veteran of the medical device industry with a passion for the life-saving potential of neuro-interventional technologies, Wallaby-phenox’s Kirk Slater has never been more excited at the opportunity to save lives and reduce disability through minimally-invasive endovascular procedures.
