Chicago HealthTech Summit Draws 200 Industry Leaders

On October 23rd Insight Product Development broke past event attendance records by hosting nearly 200 key health tech industry leaders at its annual Chicago HealthTECH Summit. Engineered to provide early visibility to health-tech innovation and IP and grow the medical innovation ecosystem in the Midwest, the 2014 Summit brought together key industry and community stakeholders including corporations, venture capitalists, academia, incubators, hubs and mentor groups.

Insight unveiled three tiers of Midwest innovation at the Summit spanning early stage medical device and digital health startups, recently funded startups, and IP concepts from Chicago’s leading academic institutions. As part of the Summit, six local startup finalists also competed in the first-ever Midwest MedStartr competition for cash and professional services valued at more than $20K to further advance their innovations toward commercialization.

Narrowed from a field of nearly 20 applicants, six start-up finalists were selected for the first-ever Midwest MedStartr crowd funding competition at Insight by a judging panel of physicians, local community hubs, the Illinois Department of Public Health, Northwestern University and leading corporations – including Google and Baxter. Among these six finalists, three were awarded cash and professional services to continue advancing their technologies on the merit of their live pitch to the judging panel at the Summit.

The MedStartr competition winners were:

  • First place – Thermatome of Chicago was awarded $14,500 for the company’s thermal therapy technology used following lumpectomy to destroy surgical site remnant cancer cells, eliminating the need to weeks-long radiation treatment with toxic side effects.

  • Second place – Insight member Innoblative Designs was awarded $5,000 for the company’s novel ablation probe used during a lumpectomy after tumor removal to destroy residual cancer, and reduce unnecessary reoperations and radiation in early-stage breast cancer.

  • Third place – Sintact Medical Systems was awarded $1,000 for the company’s thin biocompatible film that helps separate organs after surgery to prevent painful surgical adhesions common in patients having undergone abdominal and gynecological procedures.

Learn more about the annual Chicago HealthTECH Summit at http://www.insightpd.com/healthtech-2014/ or contact Steve McPhilliamy at smcphilliamy@insightpd.com.