3 days Ago By Katelyn Catanzariti
A 'shark tank' approach to pitching ideas for Australian heart health has proved so successful, the model is to be imitated overseas. or signup to continue reading Eager to find new and innovative ideas to prevent an anticipated decline in heart health in the next quarter of a century, the Australian Heart Foundation put a call out to anyone "with an ABN and a good idea" to come and pitch it to a room full of investors. The resultant showcase, held in Melbourne last week, has proved so successful, the only problem is going to be trying to decide the 10 recipients of the $100,000 Catalyst Partnership Grants.
"We got 223 ideas - almost all of them were pretty damn good," Heart Foundation CEO David Lloyd told AAP. "And only half were from the research sector, which I loved. "We then tried to fill the room with different kinds of money to listen to the pitches .
.. I don't think it has been done before.
" The ideas pitched by 20 invited finalists included remote-operated clot removal technology to service rural areas and laundry services for remote Aboriginal communities to prevent skin sores that can lead to serious health outcomes. Others included 3D printed heart valves and catheters for cheaper and more personalised medical care and a potassium-enriched salt to replace the less healthy sodium-based one. "Until we knew who the 20 were, it was actually quite difficult to get the money in the room," Mr Lloyd said.
"Our funding largely comes from bequests - 60 per cent. Which means I'm running a health charity and most of my money comes from dead people. That's not an ideal long-term position to be in.
"We need lots of different kinds of money to support our aspirations." Consultants were then brought in to help creators develop their investor statements and train them up in pitching, including running group sessions on things like body language and "where to put your hands when asking for money", he said, adding: "They loved it." The surprising and positive outcome of this "electric environment" was the cross-section of people in the room, Mr Lloyd said.
"There was one, a First Nations proposal, we thought was certainly only going to be supported by philanthropy, and one of the venture firms that were really only interested in medical devices said 'Gee, is that all you need for that? That's brilliant, we'll find you the money for that'. "It was completely brilliant - they would never have met each other, they would never have even heard of each other had it not been for this interaction." The showcase was so successful, the format is to be copied by heart foundations across the world.
"That's the greatest compliment to it you could have," said Mr Lloyd, who added he thought the format could be used for other disease sets and in conjunction with other overlapping diseases. "We're a bit of a 'comfy cardigan' of a brand - everybody trusts us, everybody likes us, everybody knows that we produce really reliable evidence and we've done great research. "But we've never been seen before as an exciting source of innovation that you might want to invest in.
"I just think we might have pulled it off with this." DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team. WEEKDAYS Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation.
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