Health Care Workshop

The Health Care Workshop took place on April 1, 2020

Organizers: Münchner Kreis, Technische Universität München, University of Oslo, Center for Global Health. , Prof. Dr. Dr. Andrea S. Winkler (TU München and the University of Oslo) and Prof. Dr. Michael Dowling (Münchner Kreis and the University of Regensburg) hosted and facilitated the workshop. The well-attended workshop provided a broad overview of the opportunities and challenges of platforms in healthcare, their impact on society, and the general access problem seen in the context of the digital divide. 

Speakers and projects:

• “Introduction to Platforms”: Prof. Dr. Helmut Krcmar (TU München) 
• “Complexity and the Need for Policy”: Prof. Dr. Josef Noll (University of Oslo/Basic Internet Foundation) - Digital Health and Public Goods
• Uwe Wahser and Saurav Battarai (GIZ) - Open IMIS Platform
• Dr. Felix Sukums (Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences) - DHIS2 in Tanzania 
• "Governing Digital Health Futures": Dr. Samuel Knauss (Charité) - A Digital Health Insurance Platform: mToday
• Christian Franz (The Lancet and Financial Times Digital Health Commission) - Platforms and The Governance of Data 
• Nanjira Sambuli (Independent researcher, policy analyst and advocacy strategist) - COVID-19 and the Implications for Digital Health Platforms 

First conclusions can be drawan from the report. (See Download section below)

Healthcare received about 10% of the total venture and institutional funding allocated to startups in 2020. While the sector has seen a significant expansion when it comes to products and services, the bulk of funding has focused on telemedicine, hospital management (which includes electronic medical records, appointment booking platform, and patient), distribution (mainly including e-pharmacies), and biotech.
A large portion of funding into the sector still involves traditional private equity and development finance focusing on infrastructure, such as hospitals and private clinic networks across the continent. Among the companies gaining traction to date, when excluding Zipline’s investments, Vezeeta, M-Pharma, CarePay, and 54 Gene are some of the fastest-growing.
Navigating regulatory framework, infrastructure gaps, and capital scarcity remains a significant steback for health tech entrepreneurs as the barriers to entry and scale remain high if compared to other fast growing industries such as fintech and e-commerce.