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THIS WEEK'S Global Health Innovators Summit in Nashville's Omni Hotel addressed innovation, challenges and impact of emerging technologies in the healthcare sector.
Executed on Oct. 9 in a four-hour sprint, the inaugural Summit could prove a watershed for a change-agents looking to accelerate Greater Nashville's rise as a global hub for healthcare and life sciences, through a model initiative that could eventually be adapted to address bilateral cross-border trade and investment opportunities of other industries in the Greater Nashville region.
Attendees of the Innovators Summit were among the first to learn that two days earlier a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed in behalf of both Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County (Metro) and the United Kingdom's West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA), affirming the participants' shared interest in launching a Nashville-West Yorkshire HealthTech Bridge initiative.
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| The Mayors sealed the MOU at Metro. |
That MOU was completed Oct. 7 by Metro Mayor Freddie O'Connell and WYCA Chair Tracy Brabin, who is also Mayor of West Yorkshire, and is the first person to hold that office. WYCA is based in Leeds, England.
In a UK release yesterday, Mayor Brabin said: "This groundbreaking new partnership with Nashville will deliver real results at home - new jobs, more investdment, and better care for patients. It's a major vote of confidence in West Yorkshire, and a testament to the strength of our healthtech sector, the talent in our universities, and the innovation of our businesses. In the longer view, the Metro-WYCA MOU is relevant to all industries, governments and institutions concerned with innovation, all stages of entrepreneurship, talent recruitment, workforce development, trade practices, and global market entries."
In the same release, Mayor O'Connell said, "I am excited to collaborate with West Yorkshire in a way that will improve health outcomes for residents of both cities. Nashville has a strong history of work and innovation in the health care sector, and a partnership with excellent minds overseas ensures that will continue to flourish."
During a brief visit with Innovators Summit attendees Wednesday, Mayor Brabin enthusiastically announced completion of the MOU and beamed about Nashville and consultations during her visit, before heading for Nashville International Airport.
The MOU foresees key areas of cooperation as including best practices, identification of healthcare and lifesciences industry challenges, business ecosystem exchange programs, efforts to position both Nashville and West Yorkshire as "leading locations" for Health and Life Sciences, bilateral trade missions, innovation and talent-development initiatives -- and, provided successful results, potentially extending such efforts to other industries.
Under the MOU, Metro and WYCA will each identify a senior contact who will ensure effective liaison, preservation of MOU principles, and steady awareness and perspective with respect to developments initiated in the context of the MOU.
Also this week, according to participants' posts online, Mayor Brabin and Kate Lodge, partnership director within the Leeds Academic Health Partnership, were among WYCA travelers who visited Vanderbilt University's The Wond'ry Center for Innovation.
Highlights of the Vanderbilt visit were said to include a briefing by Eben Cathey, Vanderbilt's senior director of local government relations. Cathey's topics included such initiatives as the Nashville Innovation Alliance.
On this side of the Atlantic, the spadework for both the Innovators Summit and for supporting progress toward an MOU are credited to three who also managed and facilitated the event: Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce SVP Lori Odom; John Scannapieco, a partner with Womble Bond Dickinson LLP and Honorary Counsul for Great Britain and Northern Ireland; and, Eric Thrailkill, HLTH Community Ambassador and founder of strategic growth advisory firm, Allee Advisory Services.
Quotes by the Mayors, as well as Odom and Scannapieceo are included in WYCA's release yesterday here.
Listed Innovators Summit sponsors and supporters included: Oracle Health; Alvarez Search; Phase Capital; British Consulate-General Atlanta; DAC Beachcroft; Health Innovation Alliance; HLTH Community; Horizon Government Affairs; Intellias; Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce; and, Womble Bond Dickinson (WBD).
Innovators Summit speakers, panelists and moderators included: Paul Kusserow (Amedisys); Annika Lundstrom (Reminded); Rebecca Laborde (Oracle Health); Marten den Haring (Lirio); Allison Ko (WBD); Neil Carpenter (Redesign Health); Hunter Hillenmeyer (Company Ventures); Chase Spurlock (Decode Health); Gillian Hooker (Concert Genetics); Priya Bhutani (RegDesk.co); Giles Tully (Pinpoint Data Science); Brett Meeks (Horizon Government Affairs); Ted Merhoff (Shearwater Health), Bleddyn Rees (ECHAlliance); Craig Allen-Ahrens (ShiftMed); Laurie McGraw (Transcarent), Orli Biger (ARC Innovation), Hamza Drabu (DAC Beachcroft), Joe White (Send-it Healthcare), Paul Rinne (Able Care), Farzana Rahman & Amy Davis (Hexarad), Jake Nichols (Ignite Biomedica), Matthieu Ortala (Kaduceo), Chris Darland (PeerBridge), Travis Rush (Riperio), Emily McGinn (EXO Technologies), Nathan Buttrey (Altitude Ventures), Brant Beard (HCA Healthcare) and Gracie Francis (Alvarez Search).
Groups participating in Summit and-or WYCA mission to Nashville included, among others:
VNC research suggests this week's events are the newest fruit of the Nashville-Chamber's internationally-focused economic development efforts, and may be the first formal initiative strongly focused on cross-border innovation and entrepreneurship.
On July 22, responding to a VNC search-query about any cross-border entrepreneurship work, Chamber spokesman Malick Gaye told VNC, in part, "Often times, [Nashville's prospects for enterprise relocation or expansion] are tech-based companies who are/can be drawn to Nashville's health care industry. We anticipate this cohort to consistently trend upwards in the coming years. Health tech is a sector which we have leaned into for international relationships as Nashville's story is so compelling. When we talk about the purchasing power, concentration of companies, and ecosystem that exists here, prospects are blown away. We have developed a strong relationship with the Association of British Health Tech Industries, the UK's leading industry association for health technology, who each year bring a delegation of companies to Nashville to learn more about opportunities in the region. Over the past few years, and with the assistance of the UK Department of Business and Trade, we have developed long-term relationships in Leeds, England which is a hotbed of activity for the UK in digital health, medtech, and innovation. We feel that developing strong international relationships will also help our Nashville-based digital health companies who seek to do business in foreign markets... But the interest in the Nashville region isn't solely limited to health tech. We see other, more entrepreneurial companies coming to us in a variety of sectors."
In that context, we note that last month's LaunchTN 3686 Festival included a Sept. 10 panel that had been coordinated by the Nashville Chamber, titled Going Global - Opportunities for expansion, collaboration, and research partnerships outside of the US.
That Going Global panel included representatives of the Consulate General of Canada, the UK Department for Business & Trade, and Invest Northern Ireland, as well as the U.S. Department of Commerce.
CALENDAR: The Innovators Summit was separate from, but formally aligned with this week's Nashville Healthcare Sessions event of Nashville Health Care Council.
Next year's NHCC Sessions Week (also spanning Associated Events) is scheduled for Sept. 29-30, 2025, with the core NHCC Conference within Sept. 29-30.
Innovators Summit co-organizer Eric Thrailkill told VNC yesterday that, while in the interim many variables must be taken into account, he and his colleagues have high praise for Sessions and Sessions-Associated events and will surely give strong consideration to convening another Innovators Summit as an Associated Event, again next year. VNC
. last edited 0947 US CDST 12 October 2024
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