Last night the 2019 Medilink UK Healthcare Business Awards took place. The sell-out gala dinner was the best yet, with 250 professionals from across the industry coming to celebrate with the winners, network with peers and share their pride in the industry.
This year’s awards recognised a multitude of achievements and outstanding contributions to life sciences. Ten awards were given out: five Medilink UK categories and five new Med-Tech Innovation categories. The Medilink UK winners were chosen from an exclusive shortlist comprised entirely of winners from each of the regional Medilink awards (held throughout 2018 and early 2019). Meanwhile the Med-Tech Innovation award winners were chosen by an independent judging panel, who represent key stakeholders from across the supply chain. The panel was tasked with assessing each entry in each of the five categories on the merit of their contribution to the medical device engineering supply chain.
After a busy first day at Med-Tech Innovation Expo (the UK and Ireland’s leading showcase for medical device design and manufacturing technology), guests enjoyed a three-course gala dinner, drinks and entertainment.
The awards were presented by Adam Kay, award winning author of the hilarious bestseller This Is Going to Hurt - recollections from his days as a junior doctor. Adam provided post-dinner entertainment to rapturous applause.
Adam said: “It’s been an absolute pleasure and an honour to be invited along tonight to be part of this evening and to present awards to some wonderful companies doing crucial work, supporting through their innovation the healthcare and life sciences sector.”
In total, 10 companies from across the UK and overseas were presented with either a Medilink UK or Med-Tech Innovation award.
Nick Rodgers, vice-chair of Medilink UK commented: “The Medilink UK Healthcare Business Awards have been a raging success once again, congratulations to all of the award winners, runners up and finalists. It’s been fantastic to see so many people from across the industry coming together to celebrate the outstanding achievements and contributions to the Life Sciences sector.”
Dave Gray, Group Editor - Life Sciences Med-Tech Innovation commented:‘‘It's been a privilege to learn about all of the exceptional work being done in the UK and overseas to advance the healthcare sector. This year the awards have shone a spotlight on not only those suppliers serving the healthcare front line, but also the engineers and innovators working behind the scenes to set the pace of change.’’
Winners and runners up from each category were;
Medilink UK categories:
START UP AWARD sponsored by MedTech SuperConnector
Winner: Virti is this year’s winner, they use virtual and augmented reality combined with artificial intelligence to transport users into realistic, hard-to-access environments and safely assesses them under pressure to improve human performance and outcomes, regardless of geographical boundaries.
The judges appreciated the use of cutting-edge technology to improve education and training and how they have applied this technology in a cost-effective manner to scale in-person training or coaching to improve human performance.
Runners up: SurePulse and Needlesmart.
EXPORT ACHIEVEMENT AWARD sponsored by Economic Development Board Mauritius
Winner: Paxman, this year’s winner has been pioneering scalp cooling technology for over 20 years. Their clinically proven cold cap system has helped over 100,000 cancer patients in more than 25 countries worldwide to help retain their hair during chemotherapy.
Runners up: CellPath and Charnwood Molecular.
COLLABORATION WITH THE NHS AWARD sponsored by Wilmington Healthcare
Winner: C the Signs developed a digital decision support tool that uses artificial intelligence and the latest evidence to support doctors to identify cancer patients at the earliest and most survivable stage of the disease. It’s used widely within the NHS, and 85 GP practices have reported a 25% improvement in cancer detection rates.
Runners up: AliveCor and Syml Connect.
INNOVATION AWARD sponsored by Barker Brettell
Winner: Ariane Medical Systems, chosen for its work with clinical partners to develop the Papillon50 X-ray Brachytherapy system to treat accessible tumours. The Papillon 50 is now treating patients in Denmark, France, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. The technology is unique in its approach to the treatment of cancer and has been shown to be effective, with minimal side effects.
There is no other delivery system on the market that can deliver dosages at such speed and with such precision via an X-ray generator that is no bigger than a shoe box.Runners up: MeeTwo and Walk to Beat.
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD sponsored by WinMan ERP Software
Winner: Quotient Sciences, this year’s winner developed a translational pharmaceutics system which has enabled them to significantly shorten drug development times and reduce costs for biotechnology and pharmaceutical clients throughout the world.
This innovative approach to drug development differentiates Quotient Sciences in the marketplace which has driven their success in winning new customers, resulting in a 10-fold increase in financial performance and staff levels over the past 10 years.
Runners up: Creo Medical and Ingenica Solutions.
Med-Tech Innovation categories: CONNECTED HEALTH AWARD sponsored by Digital Health Age
Winner: Sentinel Biosensor impressed the judges with their medical grade, re-useable, wearable vital signs monitor, which claims to measure more vital signs in a single device than any other. The judges described the innovation as a very impressive integration of technology that has the potential to make a huge impact across the healthcare sector.
DESIGN AWARD sponsored by Med-Tech Innovation News
Winner: Computational Life was chosen for its testing software which integrates several components of the human body in a tightly integrated manner. The judges said that where digital twins are of increasing interest across market sectors, this is a very interesting application that will have the potential to considerably reduce development time in the medtech industry.
ENGINEERING AWARD sponsored by Advantech
Winner: ES Precision was chosen due to the ingenuity of their CO2 laser perforating process which contributes to a better, more comfortable experience for amputees when wearing artificial limbs. Judges identified an impressive use of a specialist manufacturing technique to improve patient comfort and recognised that the company has developed an efficient and effective way of manufacturing prosthetic silicone inserts by laser drilling.
INDUSTRY 4.0 AWARD sponsored by Med-Tech Innovation News
Winner: MasterControl was chosen for its Manufacturing Excellence solution for medical devices and pharmaceuticals, which eliminates the inefficient paper-based management of device history records, recipe management, batch records, travellers and other manufacturing information processes, and provides greater automation, visibility and traceability throughout the production life cycle.
Judges said that since quality management is vital for large and small manufacturers, to have the entire process digitised is a massive benefit & should be highly transferable.
MATERIALS INNOVATION AWARD sponsored by Medical Plastics News
Winner: Nova-BioRubber Green Technologies. This year’s winner was chosen as a result of their green processing technologies for the production of hypoallergenic and sustainable biolatex, biorubber and inulin, designed to tackle latex allergy and satisfy growing rubber demand in a sustainable way.
Judges said that the material could help deal with a significant problem in the healthcare world, and that a hypoallergenic and sustainable biolatex could make a huge positive impact on the industry.
