With so many brave innovators pitching on stage at the 2022 edition, the presentations were stretched over 5 separate sessions. Matthew Holt, Founder of The Health Care Blog, led the first session and was joined by an expert panel of investors and corporate innovation managers that went in depth with each start-up, posing tough questions following their pitch: Fabrizio Conicella, Life Science District; Maria Grazia Mazzone, SIFI SpA; Lucanus Polagnoli, Calm/Storm Ventures; Alessandro Porcu, OpenZone – Zcube; Jordi Ferrer Rende, Ship2B Ventures SGEIC, S.A; Elia Stupka, Angelini Ventures; Gabriele Tundo, Plexus Ventures; and Aline Vedder, Lakestar.

The Innovative Startups

During session 1, six innovators took the stage to present their novel solutions and address questions from investors giving the audience further insights into their market focus, company dynamics, and the road ahead.

• Salvatore Albani, Ananda
• Reinhard Stary, Biospectal
• Davide Dettori, Health Triage
• Ozge Karakas, Hi-D Imaging
• Katrina Laks, Migrevention
• Adonica Shaw, Wingwomen

As official Media Partner of the global conference, we were onsite at the Frontiers Health Media Centre and chatted with some of them, as they walked off the Start-up Discovery stage.

Ticket holders can view the full session on-demand here. Didn’t make it to Frontiers Health 2022? Playback passes are available now. GET YOUR PLAYBACK PASS

More from Frontiers Health 2022

The entire catalogue is accessible via the App and free to all visitors. the My Osler app provides resources to aid in leadering such as: Podcasts, e-Learning modules including theory, procedures, literature reviews and scenarios, Quizzes, Exam question banks and Articles.

Additionally, an Healthcare Professional can subscribe to Osler’s Clinical CPD Portfolio that includes: Powerful logbook and analytics, Feedback, CPD diary, Scratchnotes, Self reflection journal and Personal career development plan.

The app is now available for download on both iOS and Android devices.

Many people are creating the same content over and over, but it is sub-scale and underfunded. We believe that providing excellent educational materials appeals, and as we continue to grow, we can attract the funding to provide these resources broadly, Dr Todd Fraser, Chief Medical Officer at Osler Technology, told MobiHealthNews.

Credit: Osler Technology

We have reached out to Francis Namouk, SWM Agency CEO, to discuss the filming industry at the time of the coronavirus.

Francis Namouk CEO at SWM Agency

Francis is a digital content strategist and entrepreneur. He has a passion for creative storytelling, interactive experiences, and ultimately customer engagement. He has over 15 years of professional experience in digital comms within the medical and consumer health sectors. Francis holds an MFA in Design and Technology from Parsons School of Design, in NYC.

Ciao Francis, can you tell us what is changing onto the filming industry in this time of emergency?
F: Medical conferences are going virtual, which, in a way, is a positive change for the audience. They keep the same customer-centric appeal, which is what audiences love about Amazon, Netflix… the ability to access content or services on their own terms. There’s space for the Media Agency like us to help corporate companies and associations build the best virtual experience for their delegates. Companies need to embrace the advantages that digital formats offers and adapt their content accordingly.
What are your suggestions for a live event going virtual?
F: Pre-record your videos, keeping them short and succinct to retain the audience’s attention. But don’t do it yourself. You need professionals to design the virtual user journey, to select the platform to use and to manage contextual interactive offerings such as polls, breakout rooms, and Q&As. You have to offer a qualitative and quantitative experience, that has to be as memorable as the in-person experience. I believe that conferences won’t ever be the same. No, I am not saying: all conferences will go 100% virtual. I envision a hybrid model that will leverage best of both worlds. Thank you, Francis.

Read more about the SWM Agency experience with virtual solutions

As if an IPO weren’t enough big news for Health Catalyst in 2019, the company also launched a brand-new life sciences business, basically setting forth a new solution for a completely new set of healthcare clients.
Sadiqa Mahmood, Senior VP for Medical Affairs, explains how Health Catalyst is building off their deep expertise analyzing clinical care data and adding to it the molecular data typically collected by pharma companies, biotechs, med device manufacturers, and even digital health companies in order to open up a new era of precision medicine.

The idea is to enable these innovators to better define patient cohorts for targeted therapies by creating a more robust data-set that integrates clinical measures.

Was this strategy part of Health Catalysts’ larger plan to go public? How have life sciences companies responded so far?

Sadiqa gives us some insight on Health Catalyst’s growth plans.

Never overlook the power of a good story. This is what people will remember about your work.
Jane Maher, Chief Medical Officer, Macmillan Cancer Support

As long as we’ve had campfires, humans have gathered around them to share stories.

Stories are why we stay up later than we’d planned to finish a book. Or why we binge watch the latest Netflix series. Stories are how we make sense of the world.

And video is one of the most powerful storytelling tools available to us – think of it as the modern day digital campfire. It’s no coincidence that the top 100 global brands each produce around 80 videos a month. They know from experience (and hard statistics) that great video content is crucial to engaging their customers.

Video can be a powerful medium for storytelling and engagement in the health sector.

Health video works

“All right, so here we are in front of the elephants.” With those words, Jawed Karim introduced the first ever YouTube video in 2005. 18 seconds long, this seemingly inconsequential video foretold the future of online media.

Today, YouTube is not only one the most used video-sharing platforms but – more interestingly – it’s the second most used search engine after Google. That statistic tells you something fundamentally important about digital behaviour – people are hungry for information delivered through video. (Jawed Karim had a hunch this was the case – he was a cofounder of YouTube.)

Health videos in particular are popular. And not just popular, but effective:

• Two-thirds of physicians use online videos to keep up to date with clinical information.
• 85% of those physicians are taking action as a result of that video engagement, such as sharing with colleagues or even making treatment decisions.
• On the patient/consumer side, 1 in 3 people watch health-related videos online, and 93% take action as a result.

The gift that keeps on giving

Crucially, video isn’t a one-time wonder. 30% of video views come a year after the video has first been published. This means that video presents a unique opportunity to engage people on an ongoing basis and create longevity in relationships with customers as they consume content over time.

But on the flipside, if you don’t think strategically about video, you could be missing a major opportunity.

Our top 5 video tips

To realise the potential of video for your brand or therapy area, you need to become a master of the digital campfire. Here are some key considerations you need to address before going near a video camera:

Tip 1: Be clear who you’re talking to (and why)
Be laser focussed on defining your target audience and the purpose of your video. This will help inform the overall approach and style – animations, roundtable discussions, documentary-style stories, etc. An internal rep training video is likely to be produced very differently to a disease awareness video for doctors or patients, for instance.

Tip 2: Define your story
Decide from the get-go on what you want your audience to feel or what exact action you want them to take. Video gives you the chance to emotionally connect like no other medium – use it.

Tip 3: Production values matters
We’ve come a long way since those 18 seconds of grainy YouTube video. The age of Netflix has increased expectations of production quality (not to mention quantity). Put simply, if the videos aren’t well produced, no one will watch them.

Tip 4: Talent counts
Many healthcare videos benefit from using a host to facilitate conversations. But nothing says ‘boring video’ more than a boring host. Your host needs to have charisma, a clear understanding of the subject matter and media training.

Tip 5: Think interactivity
Just watching a video isn’t always good enough in the digital age. With HTML5 video, you can overlay contextual overlays that audiences can interact with. And these actions can be measured.

Bonus tip: Respond to your regulatory landscape
Digital solutions such as geo-restricting players or special opt-ins for HCPs can help you navigate the regulatory landscape. Just make sure you think about them early.

The power to connect

Done right, video has the potential to communicate beyond the written word and speak to your audience’s innate appetite for stories and storytelling.

Those who master the digital campfire are those who will most likely succeed in connecting with their audience and inspire action.