Canadian company MetaOptima Technology Incorporated is one of five new companies to join MediCity, the UK’s rapidly-expanding innovation hub for consumer healthcare, medical technology, diagnostics and beauty products. Four further companies, uMotif Digital Health, Clearview Med. UK, MindforYou and Saflushmyss are now part of a globally-driven community of 33 start-up and growing companies who have chosen the Nottingham Enterprise Zone hub on the Boots site in Beeston as their base.
MetaOptima technology is applied to the identification and management of skin conditions, in particular the early detection of skin cancers. The team has developed the first home-use smartphone screening device, Molescope, which takes high quality images and shares them with clinicians using the MetaOptima online platform DermEngine. In time, the technology will be applied to other areas of dermatology, skin care and beauty therapies.
London-based uMotif Digital Health, founded in 2012, has produced mobile and web apps to help patients and their clinicians to track, understand and monitor long term conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, and mental health. With a reach into the USA, the UK and Australia, the company’s technology is already being applied to 13 different clinical conditions. Founders Bruce Hellman and Ben James say they expect to tap into MediCity’s connections and new ways of thinking to drive the business forward.
Clearview Med.UK is working to improve the understanding and treatment of the eye condition amblyopia, or lazy eye. This pre-start venture is being established by Dr. Musarat Awan, whose extensive experience as a clinician, teacher, and researcher has identified the potential for innovative treatments, including development of a novel eye patch. Musarat is also developing an online community to give support and advice to the parents and carers of children living with the condition. She values the contact with other like-minded entrepreneurs and being part of the wider healthcare-focussed MediCity community.
Minimising the spread of infection from public conveniences is behind Saflushmyss, the design-led company founded by inventor Grahame White. A flushing toilet can propel micro-organisms in water droplets up to two meters from the bowl increasing the risk of infection especially in hospital, airport and food preparation environments. Grahame’s ‘smart’ toilet systems mean the lids are securely closed until the flush-settle cycle is finished.
MindforYou provides supported holidays for people with dementia and their carers that they can enjoy together. Founders Carol Sargent and Jo Harris have both personal and professional experience of supporting the dementia partnership. MindforYou recognise the health and wellbeing benefits their supported holidays can have and are working with Loughborough University to document these benefits. As a company they intend to work alongside and learn from other MediCity companies focusing on wellbeing, and believe there is a potential opportunity to establish a dementia design and technology suite on site.
David Browning, Managing Director of MediCity, has worked with each new company to enable them to make the most of being part of the innovation hub.
“Our vision has always been to create a globally-focussed community of like-minded innovative entrepreneurs operating from the centre of the UK. Nottingham is a recognised world-class cluster for healthcare and medical technology; the support we provide through MediCity and with our partner Boots UK, means these companies have a head start on the competition. Each brings a unique set of qualities and a willingness to collaborate with each other.”
Mark Chivers, Enterprise Zone Director, Boots, comments: “We are thrilled to welcome these five new companies to the team of innovators now based at MediCity. With 33 companies in total now on board and established within the hub, the vision to create a buzzing centre for health, beauty and wellness innovation is being realised.”
MediCity will hold its annual Innovators’ Week from 3rd – 5th November 2015. This year’s event will focus on the growth in personal health-management through the use of new technology.
