HCF,  Australia’s largest not-for-profit health fund, is leading innovation in the health care industry through its new health-tech accelerator program, HCF Catalyst.

The first corporate backed program of its kind, HCF Catalyst recruits start-up and scale-up Australian businesses and offers them the opportunity to develop and accelerate their businesses, and make a lasting impact in the health care industry.

For the past 12 weeks, nine budding businesses have completed an intensive program run by corporate accelerator, Slingshot, culminating in the ‘Demo Day’ event on the 11 May in Sydney. They will present in front of an audience of investors, industry opinion leaders and health care stakeholders.

The Demo Day will provide a platform for each start-up to share their journey from an idea to an investor ready product that promises to provide cutting edge and innovative e-health solutions, to fill gaps in the current health care sector.

As the health care industry grows and evolves, HCF remains committed to investing in initiatives focused on keeping healthcare affordable and effective in Australia.

Sheena Jack, Chief Strategy Officer at HCF, says, “Our vision is to improve health outcomes for all Australians, which goes hand in hand with our commitment to innovation. Enabling talented budding entrepreneurs to test their ideas, and helping them to succeed in their health-tech endeavours is a crucial part of our commitment, and we firmly believe in investing in the future of health.”

“Innovation drives reform, and in our sector this is a necessity to address modern challenges and advance the future of healthcare services. We’ve been really impressed by the talent of these inventive start-ups, and by giving them the platform to bring their ideas to market, we are opening up the possibility to improve healthcare and save lives.”

“Our support of Catalyst is just another way that HCF is investing in Australia’s health, as we continue to push for healthcare reform and transform our business into the future,” said Ms Jack.

Start-up and scale-up businesses in the program include:

• Curo – empowering carers with smart technology to improve elderly care
• Cardihab – CSIRO team helping doctors provide an online cardiac rehabilitation programme
• CancerAid - providing a digital health solution centred on oncology patients
• Mindfit – helping psychological patients find the right care and receive feedback on their treatment, progress and results
• Lookfit - known as "the iSelect of the fitness industry"
• Dream Well – ‘Fit for Battle’ mobile app gamifies running to help motivate users
• CareMonkey - provides families with a shareable family health database
• Pulse Data Science - builds predictive models using historical claims and clinical data
• MyHealthTest – direct to consumer pathology test service

The HCF Catalyst Demo Day is being held on Wednesday 11 May 2016 from 5.30pm – 8.30pm at Event Cinemas, 505-525 George Street Vmax Cinema, Sydney. The event is free, but spaces are limited - to register your attendance for Demo Day, please click here, or follow this link for more information.