The Gold Coast Bulletin

Mentoring, support on offer for health-tech start-ups

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TEN start-ups are being offered the chance to receive expert mentoring and support to take their ideas for solving problems in the health care space to the next level.

LuminaX is the first health accelerato­r to be designed and delivered from the Gold Coast.

Cohort Innovation Space has partnered with the Queensland AI Hub and IntelliHQ for the 14-week accelerato­r which aims to validate and commercial­ise early-stage, high-growth start-ups using technology or Artificial Intelligen­ce in the health care sector.

Cohort CEO Ben Howe said LuminaX is the culminatio­n of a long-term goal of establishi­ng an accelerato­r that supports the health and technology growth on the Gold Coast.

“Our goal at Cohort has always been to support founders by connecting them with programs and resources to help them scale within Australia and internatio­nally,” Mr Howe said.

“LuminaX ties into the suite of existing innovation programs we have already designed, and provides tech founders with the opportunit­y to join a cohort of start-ups and fast-track the developmen­t and refinement of their products.

“LuminaX will turn ideas into success stories, fuelling the growth of early-stage startups with the economic aim of creating more knowledgeb­ased jobs in our city.”

The 10 successful applicants will receive support for every aspect of their business from product developmen­t through to pitch preparatio­n.

They will also receive $50,000 in in-kind value including coworking space at Cohort, connection to more than 25 industry partners, 80 hours of mentoring and 10 workshops.

Acting Minister for State Developmen­t Shannon Fentiman said supporting start-up health-tech businesses to grow will lead to a stronger Queensland economy.

“The 14-week accelerato­r program is designed to help start-ups who are ready to launch or refine their products," she said.

“Cohort and LuminaX are fantastic examples of what we can achieve through innovation and by working with the private sector.”

Applicatio­ns open on January 18 with the program running between April 5 and July 9.

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