Krysta Traianovski’s presentation at the Hacking Health Waterloo Cafe goes a long way to understanding why this health start-up is attracting attention in Waterloo Region.
Sharing their journey and experiences with the group provided us with a glimpse of the compassion and flair of the team. There will be close to 1 million Canadians living with dementia in 15 years. Their technology is poised to bring caregiver relief and autonomy for persons living with dementia.
Hacking Health Waterloo June cafe
“Bosse Medica has been attracted to working with BrightGuide through the care and compassion they have for people with dementia. That is what drives them. This is more to them than a go-to-market strategy or commercialization. They care deeply for people with dementia and want to do the best for them. They are real visionaries. Dementia is an epidemic. Their future is bright.” says Suzanne Sarrazin, Bosse Medica President.
BrightGuide journey
The team has been through various incarnations already, NeonArc, Video Diary before settling on BrightGuide as being the most descriptive of the solution that they bring to its users. BrightGuide helps persons with dementia and their care partners with daily activities.
- Finding their solution through Hack 4 Health at the University of Waterloo;
- Meeting the community. Sam Khan and Krysta Traianovski have become an established part of the Waterloo Region scene;
- Presenting their ideas for the first time at Hacking Health;
- Incorporating user feedback;
- Finding strong mentors;
- They found their first employee at the 2016 Hackathon;
- Getting established;
- Winning Dementia Hack in March 2017;
- Testing the interface ready to go-to-market. BrightGuide is now seeking volunteer testers.
Rise of Medtech in the Waterloo Region ecosystem
The Waterloo Region has yielded 2,299 start-ups, with BrightGuide among them. BrightGuide has embraced the Hacking Health mentality and ecosystem with inclusion in the Velocity Garage at Communitech. The team has gained immediate recognition from mentors and academics for their strong compassion for their customer personas. It is the everyday simplicity of their solution that will bring it widespread acknowledgment and adoption. There was an extended Q&A session with the Waterloo Cafe attendees.
Dementia in numbers
The statistics make startling reading. We already see 564,000 dementia patients in Canada, with 25,000 new cases diagnosed every year. It is estimated that the cost of dementia is $10.4 billion according to the Alzheimer Society of Canada’s dementia numbers.
You can read our original post about the rise of the of Medtech ecosystem in Waterloo Region here.
READ THE RISE OF WATERLOO REGION MEDTECH START-UP ECOSYSTEM POST HERE
Images courtesy of Hacking Health and Velocity Garage.