Illawarra-based care plan start-up ExSitu has made it to the next round of the highly competitive Innovation Districts Challenges as one of three finalists at the regional Illawarra Innovation Quest.
The Illawarra Innovation Quest is part of NSW Government’s COVID-19 recovery plan. Launched in 2020, The Innovation Districts Challenges are designed to accelerate the commercialisation of research products that enable businesses to address the impacts of COVID-19. Three regionally based start-up businesses are selected via on paper performance, potential and pitch.
The Innovation Districts Challenges are designed to accelerate the commercialisation of research products that address the impacts of COVID-19 by businesses in partnership with universities and CSIRO in NSW. Challenge themes align with the NSW Government ‘Respond, Recover and Reform’ approach to COVID-19. The total funding pool available for each Challenge round is $500,000.
Designed to provide granular and individualised care, ExSitu made an easy pivot to meet the challenges of the NSW hospital and care systems under the current and future COVID-19 Delta outbreaks. ExSitu actively seeks to create individualised care plans that make staying at home and seeking treatment for COVID-19 possible, relieving the strain on hospitals by reducing overcrowding. It also assists healthcare workers and the provision of care by helping people avoid medical treatments that are of no benefit and/or unwanted to increase their quality of care received in the hospital environment.
This in turn increases quality of life outcomes for individual patients and reduces the guess work when it comes to treating each patient. Ultimately creating more time and better resource allocation opportunities through creating a far less reactive and more responsive approach to patient care. This helps allow for the redeployment of resources to targeted need areas such as the ICU, creating large savings to hospitals while increasing the quality of care provided for each patient.
To be eligible to vie for the title, businesses must be registered in NSW, have a strong trading record of at least $75,000 in sales revenue or operating expenditure within the last 12 months or previous financial year. As well as a product or service (which may still be in development) that it intends to market within 12 months that directly addresses the theme for Innovation Districts Challenge Three (Entrepreneurship). With a focus on Australian innovation, ownership needs that is at least 75% Australian and is not more than 50% owned by another business.
Entrants were selected from written and video submission. From here, qualifying entrants were invited to pitch their idea in the ILQ3 showdown, a highly competitive and gruelling environment. Due to the current situation with COVID-19, these pitches had the added complexity of digital format to contend with.
From here, the top three applications made to the Illawarra Innovation Quest go on to compete for $500,000 in funding at the state-wide finals. The top 3 applications are submitted to Investment NSW on September 30th with state winners announced in Summer 2021-2022.
As successful district qualifiers, ExSitu founders April Creed and Rebecca Glover, will now enter the Top 3 Innovation Support Program until the 24th of September 2021.
Of the opportunity to compete in the Innovation Districts Challenge, co-founder Rebecca Glover said, “Pandemic life can feel a little challenging these days, so April Creed and I were really excited (albeit nervous) to pitch amongst some amazing innovative companies. The quality of all of the pitches were nothing short of inspiring. We are so grateful to have made it through to the next round where we can pitch to the NSW Government!”
“To participate in such innovative and regionally supportive programs is a great honour. That we can do so while also providing a solution that could alleviate stress and strain on healthcare professionals and ordinary Australians alike makes for a humbling experience indeed. We’re inspired by the belief bestowed on us by the convenors of the Illawarra Innovation Quest. We’re energised by the strength of the scene in the Illawarra. And we can’t wait to fly the flag for the region as well as healthcare innovators everywhere in September,” concurred co-founder April Creed.
To watch the journey to the state finals, stay close to the ExSitu blog.
For media enquiries, contact Rebecca Glover via rglover (at) myexsitu.com or phone 0447 012 845.
About ExSitu:
ExSitu helps you define and document what really matters to you so that your loved ones and health care providers can help you live life both now and in the future on your own terms. ExSitu works with individuals through to large-scale care organisations to provide individualised, custom aged care experiences through documenting the values of everyday Australians. This information helps inform day-to-day care, goalsetting, healthcare provision and even end-of-life decision-making in an easy to access, client-friendly cloud-based format.
To find out more, head to https://myexsitu.com/
About Illawarra Innovation Quest:
The Illawarra Innovation Quest is part of NSW Government’s COVID-19 recovery plan. The Innovation Districts Challenges are designed to accelerate the commercialisation of research products that enable businesses to address the impacts of COVID-19.
To find out more, head to https://www.uow.edu.au/illawarra-innovation-quest/
