Upgrading the Future of Health Tech / ULF2018
So that was the Upgraded Life Festival 2018, ULF2018 as us experienced ones like to refer to it. Personally, I had no expectations as it was my very first time attending the festival. The pre-event hype had good vibes and only based on that I was excited to attend. All I knew, was basically that a bunch of innovative health tech startups and companies would gather and see what would come up – hence the excitement.
First day draw early, and from the first hour we had interest at the exhibition stand. As can be guessed, many visitors had heard about pharmacogenetics, since it was an event especially for people within the field, but for many it came as a surprise how relevant it is to each one of us. Once myself and my colleagues engaged ourselves into conversations with the visitors, there was no end to it. As we often approach the topic through real life examples, talk about the relevance of personalized medicine – it becomes reality and people seem to gradually open their eyes and realize that this is not something that will happen in the future. It is here now, and it is here to stay.
To sum up the first day I would say, that we were pleased with the exposure, the actual strong leads we received and the media interest. Obviously, we were also very happy for the new distributors we found during the event. As glad and humble we are about signing distributor contracts within new markets, we are constantly looking to scale it up and to explore further. Upgraded Life Festival 2018 was great for this purpose: we linked up with connections that we had not planned for and it seems like the journey of GeneAccount is just about to begin.
We also discovered numerous different and interesting startup companies which are thriving in the same market are as ourselves. Together we share the mission to make the best possible health care available for everyone, everywhere.
“This is not something that will happen in the future. It is here now, and it is here to stay.”
The second and the final day was, to say the least, as busy as the first one and the cherry on top was the panel hosted by our very own founder and CEO, Jari Forsström. Jari covered the topic of “Personalized Medicine” and shared the main stage with high end professionals such as Antti Virkamäki (Medical Head of Nordics and Baltics, Diabetes & Cardiovascular, Sanofi), Risto Roine (Professor & Chairman, Division of Clinical Neurosciences, Turku University Hospital & University of Turku) and Sarah Haywood (CEO, MedCity). The auditorium was full and one could have heard a needle drop as the audience was observing the realities of personalized medicine. Another proof for us that we are on the right track.
Now, with tired feet and a fresh new mindset we look forward what becomes after this dynamic event. We solely believe that the future of Finnish health tech looks brighter than ever!
Did you know that there are significant variations amongst the anti-depressant drugs? Read a recent blog post and learn more!
