The carnival atmosphere of South by Southwest Interactive did not disappoint from guys in gorilla costumes riding a scooter down the main drag of South Congress to a plane pulling along a grumpy cat banner and throngs of uniformed minions poised on every other street corner to launch a marketing campaign.
Prioritizing design
If there was a consistent theme at this year’s conference, albeit my first, it would be reinforcing the importance of design to improve the user experience and making it a part of the product development process from the start. That can be a complicated task in healthcare because there are plenty of distractions from regulatory concerns to defining who the user actually is, such as a physician or nurse, patient or caregiver.
When Investment Rhymes with Canada
Canada has a proud history of achievement in the areas of science and technology, and the field of biomanufacturing and life sciences is no exception.
That theme was bookended in a big way by the Design in Tech report authored by Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and Byer’s Partner John Maeda and CareAline Products CEO Zelia Fitgerald’s big win at Impact Pediatric Healthcare Pitch. There as nothing complex or high-tech about a sleeve she sewed together to help keep a C-line in place to prevent her infant daughter from dislodging the tube and risk contracting an infection.
The need to balance design with policy, providers, payers and patients was encapsulated in a great panel modered by Andrew Robinson of Jawbone and included Ryan Panchadsaram, the U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer for the United States who started Pipette, which was later acquired by Ginger.io, Elliot Cohen, the co-founder and CTO of PillPack, and Corbin Petro of Elevate Health.
The healthcare and medtech expo at the JW Marriott anchored the healthcare entrepreneur presence at the conference. There were a good few digital health startups including some from Health Wildcatters and Capitol Factory. It was the first conference for the healthcare expo and the first time the JW Marriott Hotel became part of SXSW campus.
The healthcare and medtech track at the conference complemented the rest of the Interactive experience well, particularly given the big theme of the Internet of Things at the conference this year.
They were keenly attended and gave me my first important lesson as a newbie attending SXSW – get to the panels early or you won’t get in at all.
Smarter, more sophisticated wearables drew some attention at the conference.
The U.S. Agency for International Development highlighted its MultiSense Memory wearable at the conference. It’s designed to attach to the sternum and take heart rate, temperature and oxygen saturation and compare it with their baseline. Mashable highlighted the band on its website. It is designed to be part of the effort to combat Ebola by helping doctors track patients vital signs remotely by transmitting the data through Bluetooth. It is also intended to be disposable.
Philips showed off a prototype of a platform to support remote monitoring for COPD patients through a diagnostic patch developed by Vital Connect. It developed the platform with REshape Innovation Center at Radboud University Medical Center. The dashboard helps clinicians view relevant data to respond to red flags indicating deterioration in their condition. Physicians could use it as a way to intervene earlier before their condition worsens.
Voice is rising
Although it will take some time to percolate to healthcare, voice technology as another way to reach consumers on their mobile devices is attracting a lot of attention, especially in retail marketing, as another way to reach customers.
One technology company with a new way to think of voice was VOCALiD. Founded by Rupal Patel, it developed a way to create synthetic voices that combine sounds from a person with limited speech with the voice of someone who offers “a donor” voice. The result is a hybrid intended to give the user a greater sense of identity. It won the SXSW Interactive innovation award in the healthcare and biotech category.
Creating technology that’s relevant for low-income population
Although it was not a big trend at the conference, I encountered a few people who were interested in using technology that would be relevant for people with low incomes. Tawanna Dillahunt, an Assistant Professor of information, electrical engineering and computer science at University of Michigan spoke as part of a panel on human-computer interfaces.
She talked about an app she developed that uses open data to track energy use by allowing individuals to compare their consumption with others. One of the goals was to create a way for people to learn what they could do to save energy but also to help people negotiate energy use issues with their landlords.
I also encountered a startup at SXSW– Health:ELT. It’s headed up by Amanda Harvard, the CIO, and Frank Siano, the former chair of Medicaid Health Plans of America, the health IT company is developing tools around care management and engagement for people on Medicaid.
Physicians should take part in judging pitching events more often
At the Impact Pediatric Healthcare Pitch, it was great to see the physician judges asking entrepreneurs the kind of hard questions that you usually don’t hear at these kind of events. They made a good team with the venture capital firms because their priorities were different but their questions were just as challenging. It made it easier to see which entrepreneurs were likely to succeed.
Photo credit: Photo from Be Somebody
