The Global Innovation and New Technology (GIANT) Health Event 2022, which took place from 6th–7th December 2022 in London, UK, and virtually, brought together healthcare providers, investors, and health-tech experts. Showcasing lead health-tech from around the world, GIANT, which was set up in 2015, is centred on the entrepreneur, and aims to provide them with access to markets and expertise. With the goal of improving the health and wellbeing of people worldwide through the support of health-tech entrepreneurs and the promotion of healthcare innovation, the event allows people to join a rapidly expanding global community of healthcare professionals and businesses. Chief Executive Officer Barry Shrier, who founded the event, stated: “It is up to each of us, you and me, to take positive steps, to champion innovation in healthcare technology, and to support healthcare tech entrepreneurs, and thus to enable the providers of healthcare to deliver better outcomes for less money.”
In their introduction to the event, Chairman Shafi Ahmed, Consultant Colorectal Surgeon at Barts Health NHS Trust, London, UK, raised the major challenges that are currently being faced by healthcare professionals, including the lack of workforce and the legacy of COVID-19, which has led to long waiting lists. Ahmed stressed the importance of community when trying to find solutions and overcome these issues. Through the largest community of health-tech innovators, GIANT supports everyone within or related to the healthcare industry to invent and adopt new health technologies with the mission to innovate, accelerate, and collaborate.
The event took place in three conference areas, each hosting one show on both days of the congress. On 6th December, this included the ‘Mental Health Tech Show’, with the world’s leading innovators and providers in new technologies for the diagnosis and treatment of mental health conditions. This show included sessions on how digital mental health can provide support, a look at the relationship between mental health and tech, and investigating how evidence-based entertainment could shift the nation’s mental health, as well as a start-up showcase and panel discussion. The second show of the day, the ‘Digital Pharma Show’, included sessions on the relationship between pharmaceutical companies and the new surge in innovations in the tech world, blending science and technology to deliver a scalable digital solution that targets metabolic health through personalised nutrition and lifestyle management, and how healthcare can be transformed through artificial intelligence drug discovery. The final show, entitled the ‘Champions of Innovation Show’, covered subjects such as augmented and virtual reality in mental health therapy, the usage of bio data in wearables in prevention, and the usage of mental health tech; the most impactful innovations in undergraduate medical education and training; and unlocking innovation in the women’s health technology space.
On 7th December 2022, the ‘Future Hospital Show’ detailed a long-term programme of change that will ensure healthcare services are fit for the future, and high-quality care and better health outcomes for patients and their families can be provided through every stage of life. This included sessions on the latest updates from applied nano detectors, the use of virtual reality in a paediatric hospital, surgical innovation, and sustainability and heat recapture in the hospital, among others. The ‘Integrated Care Show’ hosted the experts behind the dramatic changes and innovations in the UK health sector, and leaders of the UK’s new integrated care systems. This show included sessions on developing best practice through a long-term technology partnership, managing comorbidity, cross-system collaboration for the diagnosis of skin cancer, and a panel discussion on leveraging artificial intelligence and data driven technologies to deliver population-based care. The final show of the day, entitled ‘Pitching to Investors’, gave start-ups a chance to pitch to investors on stage, and included successes and challenges of spinning out of academic research, the ‘do’s and ‘don’t’s of fundraising start-ups, and the increase and importance of female health.
As stated by Barry Shrier, innovation is “patients, and doctors, and nurses, and others who see a way to create better healthcare products and services and have the determination to turn those into successful international business.” With a community of nearly 200,000, GIANT continues to grow, with GIANT Health 2023 already in preparation with world-class speakers, the UK’s leading health-tech start-ups getting the opportunity to pitch to investors, immersive innovation presentations, and more.
