America’s Cup delivers wins for NZ Health Tech

New Zealand Health IT Cluster Inc.

www.healthit.org.nz

Media release

7 October 2013

America’s Cup delivers wins for NZ Health Technologies Industry

America’s Cup events in San Francisco and Washington DC showcasing New Zealand health technologies delivered significant wins for the industry in the highly competitive US market, NZ Health IT Cluster Chief Executive Dougal McKechnie said today.

“Emirates Team New Zealand is tremendously well respected and admired on both the West and East coasts of the US so the opportunity to connect the leaders of our health technologies sector with investors, partners and health industry leaders around the America’s Cup Regatta was too good to miss,” Dougal McKechnie said.

“Our universities, research institutions, medical device and health IT companies work closely with the health system in New Zealand to find innovative solutions to solve healthcare challenges. That leads to rich collaboration between clinicians, healthcare providers, and the research, policy and commercial sectors, giving us a natural advantage when approaching a healthcare market as large and diverse as that of the US.”

The New Zealand health technologies industry exports to over 30 health systems around the world and generates around $NZ800 million in export revenues per annum.

Dougal McKechnie said the New Zealand Health Technologies Showcase held in San Francisco presented 15 leading companies in health IT and medical devices, and a number of prestigious research organisations, to the leaders of around 100 companies and organisations in the Californian healthcare sector.

The event was jointly organised by the Medical Technology Association of New Zealand and the New Zealand Health IT Cluster, with the significant support and input from New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.

“The Washington DC programme had a different focus on Military healthcare and provided unprecedented access to influential decision makers and experts in the US military health system which is a potentially significant and largely untapped market for us,” Angela Pantano of the Medical Technology Association of New Zealand said.

Angela Pantano said both East coast and West coast aspects of the mission have been a year in development and would not have been possible without the work of both organisations and the extraordinary work of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and their connections in both California and Washington.

“The venture was a resounding success and the good will toward the participating companies and organisations, and toward New Zealand, was really quite astonishing, delivering business opportunities beyond our expectations,” Dougal McKechnie said.

ENDS

Note for editors:

The New Zealand Health IT industry comprises around 200 local and off-shore companies and organisations involved in health IT, comprising software and solution developers, consultants, health policy makers, health funders, infrastructure companies, healthcare providers, and academic institutions.

The Medical Technology Association of New Zealand (MTANZ) is the leading industry body representing medical technology manufacturers, importers and distributors of medical devices in New Zealand. MTANZ supports New Zealand researchers and manufacturers in developing medical devices for international markets.

Participating companies (San Francisco): Pacific Edge, Molemap, Atlantis Healthcare, Mesynthes, Otago University, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, Uniservices, Nexus6, Zephyr Technologies, Stretchsense, Callaghan Innovation, ARANZ Medical, HSA Global, Orion Health, McKesson.

Participating companies (Washington DC): Pacific Edge, Molemap, Otago University, Uniservices, Zephyr Technologies, Stretchsense, Callaghan Innovation, HSA Global, Orion Health.

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