Successful premiere for the BOOM Summit at Messe Basel
Basel, 12.04.2024
The inaugural BOOM Summit has passed its baptism of fire, providing an open forum for the 500 participants from all over Europe that congregated in the event hall at Messe Basel. The two-day healthcare conference wel-comed international speakers to discuss the challenges facing the healthcare sector, as well as Kaspar Sutter – Governing Councilor of the canton of Basel-Stadt with responsibility for economic policy – who took the oppor-tunity to highlight the advantages of Basel as a life sciences location. Furthermore, Swiss startup aiEndoscopic emerged as the winner of the event’s Innovation Showcase competition, out of the twelve strong startups that took part.
Healthcare costs are rising, the digitalization of the healthcare system is making slow progress, and investment in startups dealing with healthcare technologies is falling. At BOOM Summit, around 500 experts, entrepreneurs, patients, investors, and political decision-makers discussed the digital solutions that can address these challenges, sharing their knowledge of innovative technologies across the two days of talks. The participants agreed that the innovations that can bring about change in the healthcare sector primarily come from startups and are not driven by multinational corporations. However, as soon as it comes to further developing innovative projects, making products ready for the market, and successfully commercializing them, cooperation between startups and life sciences companies is indispensable. Key insights from the conference include that there is still a lot of room for improvement in this area, and that the many players involved in the healthcare sector need to pull together to realize changes in the system.
Kaspar Sutter used his appearance in front of an international audience of experts to promote Basel as a life sciences location. Kaspar commented that “great ideas start small” when referring to the strong increase in startups that have settled in Basel, not least due to the presence of the major pharmaceutical companies Roche and Novartis.
The BOOM Summit ended with the announcement of the winner of the Innovation Showcase competition, in which 12 healthtech and medtech startups took part. Swiss medtech startup aiEndoscopic – which uses artificial intelligence to support complex endoscopic procedures – won and was awarded 7,000 Swiss francs. Second and third places went to Polish startup CliniNote and InSilicoTrials from Italy, respectively, which are both currently supported by the DayOne Health 4.0 accelerator. The organizing team behind the event – DayOne, Kenes Group and MCH Group – has announced that a second edition of the health conference will follow next year.
About DayOne
DayOne is the healthcare innovation initiative in the Basel area. With a platform for collaborative innovation across disciplines and industries, it accelerates startups, launches catalyst projects, and hosts a community and events to bring innovative healthcare ventures forward. Since 2018, DayOne has supported 23 companies with a combined valuation of over CHF 80 million, contributing to the life sciences ecosystem of the Basel area. DayOne is run by Basel Area Business & Innovation – the investment and promotion agency for the Basel area – and is significantly financed by the cantons of Basel-Stadt and Jura.
About Kenes Group
Over the past five decades, Kenes Group has established and maintained its winning reputation as a global meeting and association management provider. Recognized as the world leader in meeting planning, the company is the only global PCO dedicated to medical and scientific events. Kenes Group boasts a long-standing client base of some of the world’s foremost organisations and associations, with more than 100 returning and long-term clients.
About MCH Group
MCH Group, with its headquarters in Basel, is an internationally active experience marketing company with an extensive network of services. It organizes around 30 community platforms in Switzerland and abroad, including Art Basel, Swissbau and Giardina. The Live Marketing Solutions division, with the MCH Global, MC2 and Expomobilia brands, offers comprehensive experience marketing solutions ranging from strategy and creation to implementation. The MCH Group also operates Messe Basel, the Congress Center Basel and Messe Zürich. The company employs over 800 people, around half of them in Switzerland and the USA. In the 2023 financial year, the group generated consolidated sales of CHF 394 million.
