The UK government issued a call-out on Wednesday from healthtech start-ups from India, alongside Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria, to participate in its flagship TeXchange 2020: Healthcare Innovation event.
The most innovative start-ups will be selected to travel to the UK and participate in the event in February next year.
The event has been categorised as an early initiative of the UK-India Tech Hub, announced last year as part of the wider UK-India Tech Partnership, which aims to develop UK-India tech collaborations, create skilled digital tech jobs and stimulate the digital economy of both the UK and India.
"We are giving the brightest global entrepreneurs focused on the development of innovative healthtech solutions the unique opportunity to come to the UK and showcase their solutions to the UK's healthcare sector," said UK Digital Minister Matt Warman.
"Texchange will help to build connections for global innovative start-ups and demonstrate that the UK is the place to grow and scale your tech business," he said.
TeXchange has been designed as an immersive three-day programme that offers participants direct access to the UK's top corporate and government agencies through public events, meet-ups and presentations.
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TeXchange 2020: Healthcare Innovation will focus on AI and big data in healthcare, early detection of diseases, population health, telemedicine, and diagnostics.
Key stakeholders involved will include healthcare start-ups, British healthcare companies, and leading UK service providers and intermediaries, the UK government statement said.
As part of the UK-India Tech Partnership, the UK government said it has delivered a number of initiatives over the last few years to support the buoyant Indian tech sector including the FinTech Rocketship Awards where FinTech entrepreneurs from UK and India were given an opportunity to experience their respective tech ecosystems and pitch for investments to grow their new businesses in this first-of-its-kind mentoring programme.
The UK government is building an International Tech Hub Network to support entrepreneurs around the globe; stimulate local digital economies; and facilitate innovation partnerships between local tech sectors and UK and international businesses.
It said India is home to a thriving digital sector worth approximately $200 billion and is a growing hub for technologies such as artificial intelligence, cyber security, data analytics and a leading manufacturer of internet-connected devices and services.
"Healthcare is one of the fastest growing sectors in India, forecast to be valued at over USD 280 billion by 2020. There are estimated to be over 5,000 start-ups in the healthtech space, which raised more than $500 million between 2014 and 2018," the government statement said.