Similar to eforts made by the
biotech industry, the Consortium
for Afordable Medical Technologies
(CAMTech), based at Massachusetts
General Hospital Global Health, has
focused its eforts on addressing
the SDGs by creating shared value
in global health. CAMTech identifes
pressing clinical needs from the feld,
crowdsources innovative solutions
and accelerates the cycle from idea to
patient impact. Since 2012, CAMTech
has leveraged its neutral broker status
to convene a diverse and collaborative
set of stakeholders with a goal of
impactful innovation, bringing
together over 4,370 innovators, 650
mentors and 730 organisations to
design more than 830 innovations.
Using innovation to mitigate
infectious disease outbreaks and
improve maternal and child health
has proved impactful. CAMTech
hackathons, 48-hour events in
which a group of curated individuals
from diferent backgrounds come
together to drive innovation in
healthcare, have allowed clinicians,
public health professionals, engineers
and entrepreneurs to act as frst
responders to infectious disease
outbreaks like Ebola and Zika.
Several hackathons, bootcamps and
innovation awards have also focused
on improving maternal and child
health and closing the gender gap in
medtech.
During CAMTech’s 2014 Stop Ebola
hackathon, innovators designed an
Ebola Treatment Unit that integrates
UN’s 2030
goals should
spark a
conversation
ach of the 17 SDGs outline
strategies to end extreme poverty,
inequality and climate change by
2030. Building on the progress made
by the Millennium Development Goals,
the SDGs prioritise people, planet,
prosperity, peace and partnership to
build a more sustainable world. The
SDGs implicate all countries and all
stakeholders and call upon industry
leaders to address these initiatives.
Two years since the United Nations
implemented the SDGs, the fourth
annual Industrial Biotechnology
Innovation Centre (IBiolC) conference
in Glasgow, which convenes over 400
biobased professionals, academics and
students, is an opportunity to further
these conversations. IBioIC’s mission
is ‘to help businesses large and small
increase the pace of innovation’. The
biotech industry has the potential to
make signifcant contributions to the
SDGs through the use of innovation,
entrepreneurship and sustainable
resources to advance population health.
Using a biotech approach to advance
population health is crosscutting and
aligns with nearly all 17 SDGs.
By Nicholas Diamond
Innovators
simulate an Ebola
Treatment Unit
during CAMTech’s
2014 Stop Ebola
Hackathon.
The RESCUE
Team won for
its optimised
Ebola Treatment
Unit, which is
mobile, scalable
and integrates
culturally sensitive
infection control
and training
methods in rural
settings.
At the 2017 United
Nations General
Assembly, Dr. Data
Santorino, CAMTech
Uganda Country
Manager, presents a
demo of the Augmented
Infant Resuscitator (AIR)
device, which emerged
from CAMTech’s first
hackathon in 2012.
Randomised control
trials demonstrated
that the time needed
to achieve effective
ventilation was reduced
in half when using the
AIR device, and the
duration of effective
ventilation increased by
more than 50%.
In January 2016,
193 world leaders at
the United Nations
implemented the
17 Sustainable
Development Goals
(SDGs) as a part of
the 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable
Development.