Striking a blow for common sense, West Sussex’s council and PCT have bought into a service from Wealden and Eastbourne Lifeline to which both council and health staff can refer people. Dee Christie, the county’s operations manager for occupation therapy… Read moreCouncil and PCT collaborate on telecare deal

An Ars Technica item predicts an technology innovation drought in the next few years owing to big companies making R&D cuts. Intel, 24 venture capital firms and 17 other tech companies want to do something about it with a $3.5… Read moreThe coming technology innovation drought

We haven’t heard much lately from Health Buddy, one of the early telehealth providers acquired by Robert Bosch Healthcare.  Their most recent news, which surprisingly hasn’t received much notice, is their large-scale program for up to 6,600 Medicare beneficiaries in the Bronx, New York.  The… Read moreBosch Health Buddy deployed at Montefiore Medical Center

Still early days for this pointer to the future item, but the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Nano Letters is reporting on development of a super-thin film they call ‘piezo-rubber’ –flexible, biocompatible rubber films for use in implantable or wearable energy harvesting… Read moreGenerating device power from body movements

The UK’s Department of Health (DH) today launched a consultation on a national strategy for managing people with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Much of the emphasis is on the need to diagnose more people earlier in the disease. The… Read moreDH consults on COPD strategy (UK)

It seems lately that most weeks we (Telecare Aware editors) are approached by people seeking sources of funding for businesses with telecare and telehealth products and services. These are usually small startups that have one or more elements of a business but lack the skills and/or sufficient funding to get to where they need to take the next steps to get to market. Most are never going to make it but a few have the potential to be world beaters.

On the funding front, the owners will usually have invested a good deal of their own time and capital and, at the time of looking for help, may be reaching their limit. Their funding requirements at this stage are usually too small to interest venture capital companies but too large to obtain from a bank or family and friends. Approaching funding bodies for grants is too slow and haphazard a process – if they can find the matching funding that is often required, that is. Moreover, they do not want to approach established companies for help because they fear tactics designed to stall them or to steal the ‘killer idea’.

We are therefore floating this idea with Telecare Aware readers: would you be interested in pooling resources to support some of these companies?

The aim would be to invest in a small number of companies believed to have to potential to establish themselves in their niches and to grow from there. Please indicate your interest by following the ‘Read more…’ link below and responding to a poll.