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Partner at your own risk :)

You are who you are surrounded by. Grateful to have such a supportive network.

𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐣𝐚𝐡. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠. 𝘐𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯? H.E. Najla Al-Midfa opened up the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival with this question. Every country has its DNA. Not everything is Silicon Valley. For Sharjah, true success is built on enduring values. Or as Sheraa 's CEO Sara Al Nouami put it, it is not about quick wins but a lasting impact for everybody. That is the vision driving Sheraa and it was felt in every where during the festival weekend. 🟣 𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 Ideas without execution don't amount to much. The UAE Minister of State for Entrepreneurship, HE Alia Abdulla AlMazrouei, laid out some of the goals and pillars that will fuel the next decade of startup growth and economic diversification. A few highlights: ✺ 10% of federal procurement will be dedicated to UAE National SMEs ✺ SMEs to contribute 70% to GDP ✺ 1M startups by 2031 ✺ Focus on PPPs ✺ More substantial funding and support for female founders ✺The Future 100 & Future 50 programmes. ✺RIYADA (Pioneers in Arabic), a program designed to empower the next generation of Emirati entrepreneurs, got me excited too. Backed by 16 government entities, RIYADA provides finance, mentorship, and access to global markets, ensuring that youth and emerging talent have the resources to succeed. 🟣 𝐁𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐀𝐋𝐋 The UAE's declaration of 2025 as the Year of Community highlights the nation's focus on building cohesive, collaborative communities. The SEF brought entrepreneurship and community hand in hand under one big canopy. By doing so, it offered a stage to all. This is what I love about Sharjah; it is a place where everybody feels they belong. Because they do. Two days of keynotes, panels, and workshops offered a glimpse into how that future might shape up. Delivering on the goals will take purpose, patience (even if you won't be around), and people. SEF was a great starting point. Time to keep building now. Congratulations Abeer AlAmeeri, Tarun Krishna, Nader Aboulhosn, Lamya AlSerkal, Dana Patterson et all for a great event. I loved meeting other fellow EiRs such as Emma, Saeed, finally meet in person wonderful entrepreneurs Samrin, nikita, Rhea, as well as Jijo, Ariana, Shefiu, Ahmed Abdulla Al Nowais and many more. 🟣 i-Expand ➟ #commercialization #biotechology #digitalhealth #deeptech #ai #entrepreneurship #uae

Arab Health becomes WHX.

𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡. Arab Health was born 50 years ago at nearly the same time as the UAE. Both have grown and thrived. Arab Health Exhibition by Informa has become the de facto meeting point for the global health tech community. It is no longer about the UAE or GCC. The whole world meets and gathers there. Here’s a snapshot of the events you won’t want to miss. 🟣𝐏𝐑𝐄-𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐁 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐇 For the last three years, the best way to kick off Arab Health has been to attend ZIMAM’s Digital Health Innovation Forum powered by MWAN Events. Arab’s health red carpet did not disappoint. Congratulations to Osama Elhassan, Ph.D., FIHASI and Svetlana Efimova for bringing excellence and the health tech community together. *Put in a placeholder for next year. 🟣𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐁 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐇- You don’t turn 50 every day, so this year, Arab Health will be action-packed. A few highlights (agenda attached). ✺ Launch of the Digital Health Advisory Board and Informa’s new digital health event – Monday at 12:10 PM. ✺ Special Announcement by Peter Hall – Tuesday afternoon ✺ Innov8 competition 28th-30th (Good luck to the startups, and see you at the final). Thanks Zohaib Meghji for this collaboration. ✺ The First Health Investment Summit – Tuesday all-day ( Dr. Mussaad M. Al-Razouki) ✺ Future Health Summit – Thursday, at the Museum of the Future. ✺ Gala Dinner in collaboration with Dubai Health – Wednesday evening from 6 PM at Emirates Towers 🟣𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒- A lot of the Arab Health action happens outside the venue, in the side events. Some are by invitation only. If not on the list, make a placeholder for next year and reach out ahead (I certainly did). ✺Al Tamimi Breakfast, 29th January. ✺Addleshaw Goddard | Arab Health Cocktail Reception in Amazonico, 29th January. ✺Vita Dinner, 29th January. A classical organized by the one and only Hassan Choudhury. A great place to meet UK trailblazers and friends. ✺What are your picks❓ PS: My birthday was also this week. There is no better preparation for Arab health than a weekend at the Liwa desert. Another place for your placeholder- maybe after Arab Health? 🟣 i-Expand ➟ #commercialization #biotechology #digitalhealth #deeptech #ai #entrepreneurship #uae

See you at Arab Health's red carpet?

𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘴 90% 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘺. 𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘥? It depends on what you use it for. In clinical settings, it is hard to use AI to diagnose cancer. Why? The latest effort from Mayo Clinic holds some clues. A few highlights from article: 🟣 𝐏𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐒 & 𝐌𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐒 Peering into the body to find and diagnose cancer is about spotting patterns. In theory, AI should be great at helping out pathologists and #radiologists. In practice, although AI has got quite good, most models are experimental. How good must a model be to be clinically useful❓ Let's look at the latest model from Mayo Clinic and Aignostics: Atlas. Atlas was trained on 1.2m tissue samples from 490K cases and compared against six AI #pathology models, matching human experts' results 84.6% across 9 benchmarks. Is that good enough for the real world❓ AI models performance is measured against pathologists. Although the best models match humans in some detection tasks, they lag behind many others. "𝘕𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳" (Carlo Bifulco). That said, models that don't score perfectly can still help pathologists speed up their work. 🟣 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐎 𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐀 What do models need to score better❓ ✺Training data Fewer than 10% of pathology practices in the US are digitized. Though European practices are more digitized, we need more and better data. Without diverse data, AI models struggle to identify abnormalities that human pathologists have learned to interpret. Some rare diseases only have a handful of samples. That is why in 2022, the Mayo Clinic digitized all of its pathology practices, along with 12m slides from its archives. The 1.2m high-quality samples used to train Atlas come from this effort. ✺ Sizing and tiling Tissue biopsy samples are tiny, just a few of mm, but when magnified, their digital images contain 14b pixels, making them 287K times larger than those used to train the best AI image recognition models. Apart from storage costs, selecting these tiles is both art and science. ✺Benchmarking We don't know which benchmarks are most important for a cancer-spotting AI model to perform well on. Could the AI model spot underlying molecular changes that humans can't see❓ Not yet. Atlas's average for molecular testing was 44.9%. 🟣 𝐈𝐍 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐓 "𝘞𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘳 #𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘴." Atlas represents incremental and real progress, yet there is a bottleneck. There is still a long way to go. Luckily, the road ahead is not so far as going to Mars or achieving AGI. #Cancer is here. Let's not lose sight of what matters. Your thoughts❓ 🟣 i-Expand ➟ #commercialization #biotechology #digitalhealth #entrepreneurship #uae

“𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘮 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 15 𝘵𝘰 30 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺”. With these words, Jensen Huang sent quantum stocks nosediving. We don’t know if he is right. What we know is that NVIDIA thrived even before the gaming market existed. How can companies commercialise in a market that does not quite exist yet❓ This is what our track at Quantum.Tech set out to answer. A few reflections (brutally simplified) 🟣 0- 1, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐄𝐈𝐑𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐍 At the atomic scale, physics gets weird. Some of those properties could help us crack problems faster than traditional computers. Central to #quantum computing (QC) is the qubit. A qubit can exist in any combination of 0 and 1 simultaneously (superposition). QC power comes from superposition, entanglement (enabling parallel computation) and interference. 🟣 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐐 𝐀𝐃𝐕𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐄 The quantum advantage is the point where a QC can solve problems that classical computers cannot. We are still in the NISQ era. Developing a fault-tolerant, coherent, and scalable computer is work in progress. 🟣 4 𝐗 4 𝐔𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘 In such an experimental sector, what is exciting investors❓ Enabling technologies. First, QC need qubits to roar. 4 main qubit types: Superconductors, Rigetti Trapped ions Quantinuum Neutral atoms Pasqal Photons power 4 main pillars: computing communications sensing/metrology imaging/simulations Who is adopting what❓ 🟣 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐙𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 = 𝐏𝐇𝐘𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐒/𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 Government and big industry are advancing sectors like defence, #telecoms, finance, #pharma, and chemistry. What drives R&D? 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐯𝐬 𝐎𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 Companies must adhere to Post-quantum cryptography (PQC) standards like NIST. #AI is a bigger risk (Sergio). 𝐅𝐎𝐌𝐎 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐐 Industry leaders don't want to be unready vs competitors. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐬 𝐠𝐨 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐎 𝐭𝐨 𝐐? Top tips from our expert panel: ✺Focus on the near-term opportunities with quantum advantage (Enrique). Practical sensing and communications advantages might happen before QC. ✺The Q leap is becoming an #AI piggyback. Chloé's QML masterclass was on point. Elvira shared how hybrid solutions and strategic partnerships buy time. ✺Start small and deliberate (Philip) i.e. POC for PQC. ✺Q needs the right people and domain-specific collaborations (Darío). Become a pick and shovel. 🟣 𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐎𝐑 𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄? The Q clock is ticking faster than the #business. There are many known unknowns. What we know: Q is not for all. Make sure that: a)What you sell is more useful than legacy (DFT vs Q) b)You are production-ready. Focus on practical commercialization and buy time. 🐈 Your thoughts? James, Moira, André hats off for a fabulous event and the collaboration! Saif, thanks for your hospitality 🙏 Part II: Q in #health 🟣 i-Expand #commercialization #digitalhealth #uae

Join industry leaders as they explore the transformative role of #Artificial #Intelligence in revolutionizing digital biology and shaping the future of healthcare. Gain insights from experts at the forefront of innovation: Panelists: Pilar Fernandez Hermida – Founder & MD, i-Expand, UK Patrick Merel – Director of Genomics and Molecular Biotech, Tii Wael Elamin – Medical Director, M42 Healthcare Marwan Mohamed, MBiotech – Assistant Business Development Manager, Clusters, Masdar City Why attend? Learn how #AI is reshaping #genomics, enhancing patient care, and driving #innovations that are redefining the future of #healthcare. Secure your spot today - https://lnkd.in/dJm39hk4 Let’s shape the future of digital health together! #DHIEF2025 #DigitalHealth #Innovation #HealthTech #StartupEcosystem

* 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐭 * Are you a start-up founder registered in a LMC Commonwealth country? Do you need help scaling your business? Imperial College London has launched the Commonwealth Startup Fellowship in partnership with the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. 🟣 𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐉𝐎𝐈𝐍 This transformative 6-month programme includes a 2-week fully-funded residential in Accra, Ghana, and Capstone in London. Other perks: ◾ Access to an equity-free Fellows Fund ◾Online workshops and coaching ◾Build a global network of fellow entrepreneurs 💰 Pitch to and meet investors and partners from around the world 🟣 𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒 Bangladesh, Belize, Botswana, Cameroon, Dominica, Eswatini, Fiji, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Montserrat, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, St Helena, St Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines Samoa, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia. 🟣 𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐎 𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐋𝐘 Applications are open now: https://lnkd.in/dgu4bpHV The early application deadline is Wednesday 15th January. The second, and final deadline is Monday 17th February 2025. Contact Sarah Ranchev-Hale for more information. If you know somebody who can benefit, help us spread the message. Art Chupeau, Steeve Camara, Tapfuma Musewe, MBA, Funmi Adewara, Cyril Seck, Kamran Iqbal, Divine Nweze, Jean Philbert Nsengimana (FAPH, MPA, MBA, PMP, MSc), Maréva Koulamallah, Philippe GERWILL, Dr Augusta Dorning. Imperial Venture Mentoring Service (IVMS) Jenny Chong, Ioana V. Dobre, MSc, Ben Mumby-Croft, Simon Hepworth, Victoria Nicholl, Sara Roberts, 🟣 i-Expand ➟ #commercialization #biotechology #digitalhealth #entrepreneurship #africa