David Sym-Smith, Partner at Addison, TX-based venture capital firm Mobility Ventures, is a 20+ veteran of the mobile industry. I met David about two months ago at the kick-off event for Health Wildcatters, a Dallas-based healthcare-oriented seed accelerator where David serves as a startup mentor (see my previous post about the kick-off event here). At the event we had a brief but fascinating conversation on mobile technologies and their impact on healthcare. We got together a few weeks later at a local Starbucks for a follow-up chat. I found the ensuing conversation so interesting that I asked David whether I could post a synopsis of our conversation on my blog; David kindly acquiesced. Below are some highlights from what David had to say:
Indoor mapping is the next frontier in mapping. Companies involved in online maps and mobile navigation (e.g., Google, Apple, etc.) are all actively working on providing maps and navigation capabilities for indoor spaces (malls, stadiums, etc.) and tracking the locations of individuals within them. Unlike GPS, there is no standard method for building an indoor positioning system; as such, there are a variety of solutions currently out there. Most use some combination of information garnered from sensors built into mobile phones and from existing WiFi networks. There is one method that utilizes the Earth’s geomagnetic field (Indoor Atlas). The coming widespread availability of precise indoor spatial tracking will greatly enhance the power of existing “self-quantifying” tools that track one’s physical activity and status in real time (e.g., Nike+). This technology can be applied to a variety of medical uses. One example: real-time tracking of, say, one's elderly mother within her own house. The data would be mined for changes in patterns of activity that might signal trouble, (e.g., did she get out of bed, etc.) and this information can be streamed to her healthcare provider(s) as well as to her adult children who may be worried about her health status. David says he would pay good money for such a service, and he is confident many other people would as well.
Expect to see a trend of non-healthcare companies taking their existing technologies and applying them to healthcare. The reason – healthcare is where the big money is. Consider a company like [mapping and navigation company] Garmin, which is already active in sports and athletics. The technologies Garmin has already developed and deployed for athletics are very applicable to medicine (e.g., remote-monitoring). Because the healthcare market is potentially more lucrative, it would make a lot of sense for a company like Garmin to repackage their existing technologies for medical applications.
Academic technology transfer. David pointed to Stanford as a model for academic technology transfer done right: stick to licensing fees only – at a low percentage – to make it easy for businesses to bear the cost of paying for IP. This approach has paid off handsomely for Stanford. [Note: after my conversation with David I came across a great writeup on the success of Stanford's technology licensing efforts here -IH].
Startups and seed accelerators. David has been involved with screening applicants for the inaugural class of Health Wildcatters, the new Dallas-based healthcare-oriented seed accelerator. He feels the most important resource organizations like Health Wildcatters can provide to startup companies is access to mentors with deep connections in the industries they are attempting to enter. In addition to providing expertise, advice, and guidance, mentors often provide startups with introductions to potential investors and in some cases their first paying customers (particularly within a B2B setting). The actual funding that startup companies will receive from Health Wildcatters is, he feels, of secondary importance.
– Isamu Hartman, PhD
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