Touch Surgery聽has been crowned the UK’s leading health and medical technology for 2020.
An independent judging panel and our readers voted in the inaugural聽100 HealthTech Pioneers聽ranking for 2020 – and the London-based聽platform came out on top after securing backing from both.
The聽platform, created by business Digital Surgery, is helping improve planning for surgical procedures using聽immersive technologies.聽With $90m of funding behind it,聽founder and CEO Jean Nehme now has plans to introduce truly smart robotics into operating theatres.
Nehme –聽who on his first day as a junior doctor managed to stab himself with a needle he had just used to take blood from a HIV positive patient聽– said taking top spot聽was a welcome recognition of the importance of surgery, which is “sometimes forgotten in healthcare”.
“It’s a very important part because it is curative,” he explained, adding:聽“I’m incredibly thankful聽to people for recognising the technology.
鈥淓verybody on the list is a winner, and that’s a cliche to say –聽but making healthcare better is not just an exercise in making better technology but helping people聽in their time of need.鈥�
THE 100 HEALTHTECH PIONEERS RANKING IN FULL
Dr Julian, an app connecting people with mental health problems with therapists, was second ahead of pregnancy app聽Baby2Body, which provides personalised coaching in health and wellbeing.
The top trio from London were followed by Liverpool start-up聽Hy-genie, which has embraced sensor technology to ensure hand hygiene compliance among hospital staff.
Accurx听(尝辞苍诲辞苍),听ORCHA听(顿补谤别蝉产耻谤测),听Zesty听(尝辞苍诲辞苍),听Andiamo听(尝辞苍诲辞苍),听Adapttech聽(Birmingham) and the聽Electrospinning Company聽(Didcot) made up the top 10.
Among those making the top 20 were Liverpool鈥檚聽Aquarate, which has developed smart mugs to monitor patients鈥� hydration, and聽Hero Wellbeing, a Leeds firm which supports employee wellbeing.
You can see the full top 100 ranking, which was voted on from a long-list of around聽200聽disruptive companies,聽here.
The judging panel was comprised of:
- Corby Ganesh, portfolio director, HETT
- Abeyna Bubbers-Jones, CEO, Medic Footprints
- Nick Prentice, global community support, One HealthTech
- Lauren Bevan, head of health & social care, BJSS
- Jonathan Symcox, editor, 老九品茶Cloud