Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, Hub71 to foster innovation ecosystem in healthcare
The Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH), the regulator of the healthcare sector in the emirate, continues to invest in providing an attractive innovation ecosystem in healthcare through a collaboration with Hub71, Abu Dhabi’s global tech ecosystem. This comes as part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) both entities signed today at GITEX Technology Week. This partnership reinforces the efforts put forward by DoH to foster innovation in healthcare. It aims to create commercial opportunities for start-ups and enhance cooperation between entities from different fields in order to shed light on the most important challenges and provide technology-driven solutions and initiatives. These efforts aim to reflect positively on the healthcare sector in Abu Dhabi, improving the health and safety of community members.
Dr. Jamal Mohammed Al Kaabi, Undersecretary of DoH, and Badr Al-Olama, Chief Executive Officer of Hub71, signed the MoU at GITEX Technology Week.
HealthTech startup founders at Hub71 will benefit from direct access to the DoH’s vast network of local and international partners, customers, experts and investors, in addition to gaining priority entry into the DoH Plug and Play MENA HealthTech accelerator programme and the DoH Health Technology Assessment. DoH will also support Hub71’s founders in commercialising products and services by providing connections to hospitals, health insurance, life sciences partners, and universities in need of entrepreneurial support. The partnership will culminate with the launch of the annual Hub71-DoH HealthTech Challenge. DoH will also join Hub71’s selection committee to choose highly skilled entrepreneurs and exceptional startups to join Abu Dhabi’s global tech ecosystem.
Al Kaabi commented: “The Department of Health- Abu Dhabi (DoH) continues to consolidate its position as an incubator for innovation in the healthcare sector and a contributor to Abu Dhabi’s tech ecosystem, by establishing a dedicated centre for research and innovation in healthcare. The centre provides a stimulating and enabling regulatory environment for healthcare innovation, and targets startups by inviting them to find solutions to the challenges facing the local and global health sector. We have dedicated our efforts to ensure that the healthcare sector in the emirate adopts the optimal system to accelerate the adoption of modern technology in terms of the flexibility of legislation, ease of carrying out research and proof-of-concept tests. We also sought to provide the opportunity for health technology to join the healthcare network in the emirate, and established the first MENA healthcare accelerator programme in partnership with Plug and Play Abu Dhabi.”
Al-Olama said: “Our partnership with DoH will energise the future of Abu Dhabi’s healthcare sector, complementing Abu Dhabi’s world-leading response to COVID-19. The healthcare sector plays an essential role in keeping communities safe and this partnership signifies how rapidly digital technologies are transforming the way patients interact with healthcare providers, and the major steps taken by the DoH to embrace and harness innovation. We are aligning our efforts to support a national priority sector, and Hub71 is nurturing those changemakers who want to create a better society through disruptive technologies that will ultimately improve healthcare outcomes in Abu Dhabi.”
Hub71 supports 17 HealthTech startups specialising in a range of innovative platforms and products that are addressing real-life challenges in healthcare, such as stimulating cognitive development among autistic children, enabling virtual consultation from hospitals and medical care centres, and delivering digital therapy courses and online counseling.
WAM
