CHALLENGE ADVANCES HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES AND MEDICAL DEVICES IN THE MEDTECH SECTOR Building Better Futures for Health Reaches 11 Year Milestone
With
George Sidis, Managing Director,
IDE Group
Teneille Murray,
Innovation & Growth Lead
Medical Technology Association of Australia
Nick Northcott, Co-Founder & Executive Chairman
Eudaemon Technologies
SEGMENT
Filmed in Sydney | August 2026
In July IDE Group launched the 2027 Building Better Futures for Health (BBFH) Challenge, a program supporting early-stage MedTech innovators move from concept to commercialisation. Delivered with Medical Technology Association of Australia’s (MTAA) MedTech Compass, the 2027 program marks 10 years of impact.
Now in its 11th year, BBFH supports researchers, clinicians, entrepreneurs and early-stage ventures tackling urgent healthcare needs. Selected teams will pitch to industry experts, gaining feedback to strengthen commercial potential.
BBFH combines IDE Group’s commercial and technical expertise with MTAA’s sector knowledge to help high-potential innovators validate, develop and commercialise health technologies. Since 2018, it has become a key platform for Australian MedTech innovation.
Participants will compete for up to $40,000 in IDE Group services: a $30,000 jury prize and $10,000 People’s Choice Award. Finalists also receive tailored guidance from IDE Group’s engineers, designers and clinicians.
The winning team will join MedTech Compass, MTAA’s program supporting early-stage medical device and digital health ventures with regulation, reimbursement, investment and market access guidance.
Over the years several start-ups have reached maturation to enter or soon to enter the market such as the inaugural Building Better Futures for Health (BBFH) Winner 2016 Eudaemon Technologies.
Applications close 31 August 2026, followed by a Semi-Finalist Showcase on the 12 November 2026 in Sydney and the Grand Final at the MTAA MedTech Conference on 3 March 2027 in Sydney. To apply, please visit the BBFH Challenge website at www.ide.group/bbfh-challenge.
Source: Adapted from joint IDE Group and MTAA media release, July 2026
You Might also like
-
Budget22 A mixed dose of health outcomes
Australian Health Journal met with a number of industry heads after the budget on their journeys so far in lobbying for change, their achievements, some of the disappointments and their thoughts on the road ahead, with an election round the corner.
-
Sense of service and pride in uniform
This ANZAC Day 2023, Australian Health Journal releases an interview with Group Captain Kath Stein MACN, Director of Defence Force Nursing with the Royal Australian Air Force.
She talks about many masks, aside from PPE, that leadership and all nurses need to wear. Currently there is work underway on a new capability description on what a nurse brings to every level in the nursing defence structure. The advice Group Captain Stein, imparts for new recruits and those interested in joining Defence Force Nursing is to take every opportunity that arises. This is evident in her progression through her career.
-
Nuclear medicine funding a win for men with prostate cancer
Australian men with higher risk prostate cancer now have access to a nuclear medicine scan to help detect and treat metastatic disease, after it was listed on the Medical Benefits Schedule (MBS) from 1st July 2022.
In 2021 over 18,000 Australian men were diagnosed with prostate cancer, resulting in over 3,000 lives being lost – and making prostate cancer Australia’s second most common cause of cancer death in men.
Australian Health Journal spoke with AANMS President Associate Professor Sze Ting Lee and Dr Geoff Schembri on the MBS listing and the efforts to get it listed.