Showcasing innovation, fueling investment and driving partnerships across Europe and Israel to improve access and quality of healthcare for women – this was the mission of the first “Women’s Health and Innovation Summit” in Europe. Essity Ventures sponsored the event, which took place in Basel from April 26-27, and presented their own booth.
“It was great to see how much attention we got, despite the fact that Essity Ventures is pretty young, and our ambition and raison d’être not that widely known yet to the Femtech community,” states Kai Thornagel, Director Essity Ventures, who attended the network event with his team Maria Alvarez de Sotomayor Vergara and Alfonso Serje.
The summit saw a great variety and quality of speakers, discussing topics such as breaking down barriers in women’s health innovation, driving growth in the European Femtech space or approaches to scale a start-up. “It was an excellent opportunity to learn about the latest trends and disruptive solutions in women’s health space”, Alfonso concludes.
About 250 attendees visited the event, comprising representatives from big pharmaceutical and medical device companies, start-ups, venture capital firms and incubator funds. “We had many way-paving conversations with start-ups and collaborators,” Kai says. “We will further follow-up on these to contribute to the growth of an ecosystem striving to lead a step-change in women’s health solutions and accessibility.”