United Kingdom
Pittsburgh, PA | Cleveland, OH | Austin, TX
Coincides with South By Southwest Health in Austin, TX
About the program
From March 6-10, 2017, the program features a 5 day tour through three major American cities with strong healthcare markets, connecting participants to potential partners, customers, and industry leaders.
Tour includes workshops, meetings and networking opportunities specifically developed and tailored to suit the specific needs and requests of each startup based on their submission during the application process. These tailored programs are to help startups build a successful business in the United States.
Meetings with leaders in the healthcare space who will help participants build relationships with commercial partners and key players in the healthcare sector.
In 2015, SelectUSA launched the first tech investment mission to the United States of FinTech startups, in collaboration with Wayra UK—the London based accelerator backed by Spain’s Telefónica. A delegation of 8 companies (10 delegates) visited Washington, D.C., New York, and Boston to learn about the U.S. market opportunity and to scope these cities as potential destinations to launch and scale. The program included workshops, networking events, and meetings with potential clients, partners, investors, and key private and public industry stakeholders. To date, 50% of the companies now have a U.S. presence and 3 have successfully received new investment to support their U.S. expansion plans.
What the FinTech Startups said: “Thanks SelectUSA - my best American buddy. Journalists are already ringing me to know more about my company.” - Fred Herrera, CEO & Co-Founder, Videobot “Going on this trip was one of the best things I ever did [for my business].” -Henry, FinTech Entrepreneur |
Who should apply?
European high-growth startups in the healthcare IT, healthcare services, and health tech industries with secured investment that are planning to scale and expand in the United States in the next 6-9 months.
20 European companies will be selected by SelectUSA.
U.S. Cities Healthcare Overview
Pittsburgh Offers Fertile Ground for Growth of Healthcare Companies
The region’s legacy in manufacturing prowess coupled with the over $730 million spent annually in life sciences research and development has positioned Pittsburgh, the former steel town, as a leader in healthcare and life sciences innovation. Home to two leading research institutions, the University of Pittsburgh, which has ranked among the top ten recipients of National Institutes of Health research funding since 1998, and Carnegie Mellon University, one of the top three computer science schools in the nation, the area provides a fertile environment for advances in medical device development, regenerative medicine, pharmaceuticals, and health IT.
Between 2012 and 2014, the life sciences sector received $277 million in venture capital and equity investments. The region’s 36 colleges and universities award more than 7,500 healthcare related degrees producing a strong talent pool for the area’s nearly 400 life sciences businesses, which employ approximately 106,000 people with a total annual payroll of $6.8 billion, making healthcare and life sciences one of the region’s leading industry sectors.
Fostering the development of this sector are organizations such as the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse that provides capital investments and business acceleration services to life sciences enterprises, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), a world-renowned healthcare provider and insurer, and UPMC Enterprises that provides access to the clinical, technical and financial resources of this fully integrated healthcare delivery system.
Known as “The Medical Capital,” Cleveland is a top choice for health startups looking to expand
The Cleveland Plus region offers an ideal environment for international business operations. With a robust $229 billion economy, the 18-county region is globally recognized for its logistics infrastructure, skilled workforce, corporate-friendly tax structure, low cost of doing business, and excellent quality of life.
The Cleveland Plus region is home to 600 internationally-owned companies, 20 Fortune 1000 companies, and a concentration of small to mid-size companies that locate in the region because of a business environment that drives innovation, acceleration and growth. Thanks to a concerted and strategic effort over the past two decades, Cleveland has gained an international reputation, and is often described as the nation’s medical capital – in part due to its 700+ biomedical companies, innovative research, clinical breakthroughs, key partners like BioEnterprise, and world leading healthcare providers such as Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals.
On a wider scale, Healthcare has become Northeast Ohio’s most distinctive asset, drawing patients, innovators, researchers, biomedical industry companies, investors, political leaders, and large-scale manufacturers from around the world.
Cleveland’s biomedical and healthcare industries employs more than 230,000 workers at leading employers such as Cleveland Clinic, Philips Medical, Hitachi, Steris, Invacare, GE Healthcare, Siemens, Cisco, Hyland Software, IBM Explorys, and Charles River Labs.
Nearly one in four Northeast Ohio residents are employed in the biomedical and healthcare industry; and biomedical startups have attracted over $2 billion in new equity investment in the past 15 years. Since 2002, Cleveland has seen more than 50 biohealth acquisitions.
Featuring sponsors such as Capital One and Mazda, South by Southwest (SXSW) is a multi-track annual lineup of seminars, exhibitions, festivals, networking and conferences covering film, interactive, media, music, and more that take place annually in Austin, Texas.
SXSW conferences focus on emerging technologies and feature a diverse range of keynotes, high-level industry leaders, and programming of professional networking, meet-ups, seminars, and online networking to ensure attendees stay engaged and achieve their main objectives for participating.
The SelectUSA European Healthcare Investment Mission will focus on the Health track of the conference, which runs from March 10 – 14. Events and sessions includes: Collaborative Innovation in the Digital Health Age, Health IT Developer Meet Up, To Build in Health, Follow the $, Not the Patient, and Patients Centric Healthcare: The Future of Health. The Health track focuses on innovations that build and support the health ecosystem, and features speakers such as Alex Gorsky, Chairman & CEO, Johnson & Johnson and Mary Lou Jepsen, Founder and Chairman of Openwater. For more information, see SXSW’s website.
Sample agenda
Sunday, March 5
Arrive in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Monday, March 6
All day – draft agenda as follows:
- Program overview and networking breakfast
- Welcome: Office of the Governor
- “This is Nerdvana”: Navigating the Pittsburgh tech map
- Landing and growing your health tech firm in Pittsburgh
- Roundtable lunch with medical, healthcare and commercial partners
- Investment Session with PLSG Accelerator Fund (TBC)
- Networking reception with tech and healthcare communities
Tuesday, March 7
Morning – half day program
- One to one meetings/company visits
Afternoon – travel to Cleveland, Ohio
Wednesday, March 8
All day – draft agenda as follows:
- Insight into Cleveland/Northeast Ohio’s startup ecosystem
- Tour Cleveland Health-Tech Corridor
- Partners/Company Briefings with (TBC): Cleveland Clinic; University Hospitals; Flashstarts (accelerator and VC fund); Akron Children’s Hospital; Metrohealth Medical Center; CASE Western Reserve University; Cleveland State University
- Meet the entrepreneurs: Presentations and Q&A by Cleveland’s success stories
Thursday, March 9
Morning – half day program
- One to one meetings/company visits
Afternoon – travel to Austin, Texas for South by Southwest (SXSW)
Friday, March 10
- Office of Governor Greg Abbott event (TBC)
- Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati hosted networking event
Your attendance at SXSW is left for you to design as best suits your interest and schedule. Based on feedback from our pilot mission, we will leave you the freedom to stay as little or as long as you need.
How to apply
Registration is closed.
PLEASE NOTE: Selected Applicants will be charged a $275 registration fee. Participants will be responsible for their own travel costs and SXSW fees.
Event flyer
Click here to download the SelectUSA European Healthcare Investment Mission flyer.
Contact information
If you have questions or need additional information, please contact: Gus.FranklynBute@trade.gov or USEmbassyLondon@trade.gov