New Delhi, India, June 15, 2016
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, attracted more than 300 applications from health technology companies from 29 countries, interested in enabling better health services in India, and matched the top proposals with Indian healthcare providers at a Health Innovation Summit in New Delhi today. The summit is part of the pilot phase of IFC’s TechEmerge program, which aims to catalyze the adoption of innovative technologies in emerging markets by bringing technology innovators and healthcare providers together with a goal to improve healthcare delivery and patient outcomes.
Over 200 people attended the summit, including CEOs and senior representatives from Indian healthcare providers, CEOs/Founders of health tech companies, strategic partners in the healthcare ecosystem, and development partners. Participants had the chance to see demos of best-in-class innovative tech products, and hear from industry leaders.
Anjan Bose, Secretary General of NATHEALTH (Healthcare Federation of India) said “India faces many challenges in order to serve millions of patients with quality, accessible and affordable healthcare. NATHEALTH’s vision is to bring together various stakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem to work collaboratively on a common platform to help address these challenges. IFC’s TechEmerge program, which looks to connect health tech innovators globally to healthcare providers can have significantly positive impact on India’s healthcare landscape.”
Over 20 Indian healthcare providers attended the event, their facilities serve regions across India with over 50,000 beds in 400 locations. They ranged from multi-specialty hospital networks to specialized clinics and labs in rural and urban areas and cut across a broad spectrum of disciplines, including cardiology, oncology, nephrology, and ophthalmology, among others. Over a two day period, more than one hundred 1-on-1 matchmaking meetings between healthcare providers and health tech companies are taking place, which are expected to lead to several new commercial partnerships. IFC has a pool of $1 million available to support the implementation of pilot projects.
“With unprecedented economic growth that has drastically boosted the demand for better healthcare access, India needs to constantly leverage the best technological innovations in the world, to transform the industry to provides quality healthcare access to the masses at affordable rates. IFC, through its decades of work across investment and advisory in the sector, is well positioned to act as a bridge to connect global health-technology innovators to healthcare players in India” said Jun Zhang, IFC Country Manager, India.
IFC has an investment portfolio in the Indian healthcare sector with commitments of over $450 million, representing over 30 percent of its global healthcare investment portfolio. This includes investments in companies such as Max Healthcare, NephroPlus, Eye-Q Vision and Portea to help them expand services in India. IFC has also supported state governments by providing advisory services and bringing in reliable private players to extend affordable, quality medical care in low-income Indian states.
“TechEmerge can help accelerate the adoption of new technologies and business models across emerging markets, where the potential for positive impact is enormous”, said Sérgio Pimenta, Director and Global Head Manufacturing, Agribusiness & Services, IFC. “We are looking to scale TechEmerge to a global program, serving as a platform that supports the adoption of innovative technologies in multiple regions and sectors”, he added.
The TechEmerge Program is being implemented in partnership with the Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy, and the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry, and is supported by Health 2.0.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. Working with more than 2,000 businesses worldwide, we use our capital, expertise, and influence, to create opportunity where it’s needed most. In FY15, our long-term investments in developing countries rose to nearly $18 billion, helping the private sector play an essential role in the global effort to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity.
IFC has a dedicated venture capital group that invests in sustainable technology-driven ventures that make an impact in emerging markets. Our goal is to spur innovation globally. The venture capital group invests both in local businesses based in emerging markets, as well as increasingly in U.S. and Europe-based companies with business solutions geared towards emerging markets. To date, IFC has invested almost $1 billion in ventures, including in healthcare, education, consumer internet (including e-commerce), and cleantech.
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