Kia ora koutou,

The year is flying by and we are counting down the days until our big showcase event, Bioengineering the Future, at The Cloud on the Auckland waterfront in May. Register your free ticket today so you don't miss out. It will be a free family-friendly event, with more than 40 fun interactive demos, showing some of our world-leading research. It would be wonderful to see you, your family and friends there. 

The past month has been especially eventful. We started by launching Medtech-iQ Aotearoa, which aims to put New Zealand on the international map for medical device and digital health innovation - you can read more below. On 8 March we celebrated International Women's Day - below are two great opinion pieces about why we still need to embrace equity in healthcare and health research. And on 22 March we held our annual Research Forum, where the whole of ABI gathered to celebrate our successes and look to the future. Throughout the month we also shared the impressive achievements of our numerous startup companies. 

Hope you enjoy the newsletter and your weekend.

- Professor Peter Hunter

Medtech-iQ is here!

MedTech-iQ Aotearoa is a nationally linked regional innovation hub initiative with three key goals: 1) Put New Zealand on the international map for medical device and digital health innovation 2) Foster start-ups with business models based on high-tech innovation in engineering or major scientific advances 3) Create an accessible and patient-centric medtech ecosystem. 

Medtech-iQ Aotearoa will be hosted and co-led by the ABI. The University of Auckland is developing its Newmarket campus to locate a prototyping hub as part of this initiative.

International Women's Day 2023

I hope you all took the opportunity to celebrate the amazing women in your lives on 8 March for International Women's Day. This year's theme was DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality.

Dr Kelly Burrowes wrote an opinion piece about why we still need to embrace equity in healthcare and health research and Maryam Rahmani wrote this piece on how her research is just one small part of a larger effort to address the gender disparities that still exist in healthcare.

Continued startup success

Our startup companies continue to flourish, and we've seen some wonderful coverage of them recently.

Kitea Health is one of our newest startups, and it recently raised $6m in funding to develop its tiny implantable monitor. Avasa is looking at ways to make microvascular surgery quicker and safer. The NZ Herald also wrote a story on the growing use of AI in the healthcare industry, which included our startups HeartLab and Formus Labs.

Improving healthcare for children

For a long time, medicine has viewed children as tiny adults, which is not ideal. A new collaborative project by the ABI and Mātai Medical Research Institute could enable more accurate diagnoses and tailored treatment for children in New Zealand.

The Tairāwhiti Study is a world-first roadmap for imaging and modelling child physiology - read more about the study below.

Consider a career in bioengineering

Have you considered a career in bioengineering, or know someone who might be interested? We have a host of funded Master's and PhD projects waiting for the right person. Everything from analysing brain networks to developing wearable health widgets. Just get in touch with our postgrad team to find out more.

Help us make a difference

The ABI is completely self-funded, so we rely on our generous donors to fund students and our world-class research. There are many ways you can make a difference and support our work - you can make a donation or bequest, or simply follow us on social media. 

If you would like to become an ABI supporter, make a donation or bequest today.