Networking
Registration & Welcome Tea
Delegate check-in, introductions and early networking among researchers, innovators and implementation partners.
Innovation, validation and evidence for stronger community health systems
The Maharashtra Impact & Innovation Hub convenes the people and institutions needed to close a persistent gap in healthcare: the distance between promising innovation and practical adoption.
Designed as a solution-oriented forum rather than a conventional conference, the programme brings together MedTech innovators, climate and health experts, maternal-health practitioners, researchers, health-system leaders, investors and students to examine what it takes for solutions to work in real communities.
The day moves deliberately from vision to application: keynote perspectives, three challenge-led panels, demonstrations of emerging tools, and an innovation pitch exchange.
The discussions are anchored in the Maharashtra Community Health Living Lab proposed in Alibag: a continuing field environment for implementation learning, structured feedback, real-world evidence generation and responsible pathways to scale.
Session timings are indicative and may be refined in the final speaker-led programme.
A technically successful device is not automatically ready for routine healthcare. This panel examines what changes when diagnostic devices, digital tools and other MedTech solutions move from controlled settings into frontline and primary-care environments. Experts will explore usability by community health workers, integration with clinical workflows and digital systems, interoperability and reliable data capture, referral and follow-up after screening, and the evidence that health systems, buyers and institutions need before adoption. The discussion will surface validation questions that innovators could address through structured real-world deployment, clinical input and user feedback within the Hub.
Climate hazards and environmental exposure do not affect all communities equally. This panel will consider how fragmented weather, air-quality, disaster and health information can be translated into local, actionable health intelligence. The conversation will address identification of vulnerable populations, context-specific risk interpretation, frontline triggers, preparedness planning, and how to measure the usefulness and outcomes of climate-health interventions. Participants will explore where environmental science, digital systems, public health research and community delivery can jointly design and test responses through the Living Lab.
Access is only the first step in a safe maternal-care journey. This panel focuses on continuity across screening, early risk identification, diagnostics, timely referral, clinical consultation and follow-up. It will examine the operational barriers behind late detection, referral delays, fragmented records and gaps in specialist access, alongside the role of community-based workers, appropriate technologies and evidence-led care pathways. The intended outcome is to identify practical maternal and child health innovations that could be refined and evaluated against the realities of women's care journeys.
The live session will introduce the proposed logic of an innovation-validation pathway: defining the problem and intended users; considering field readiness and clinical relevance; framing an implementation protocol and measurable evidence questions; and bringing together observations and structured feedback for refinement. The emphasis is on how a shared platform could help innovators, researchers and implementation partners move from product claims to clear real-world learning objectives. The final walkthrough will reflect the functions available for demonstration on the day.
The climate-health demonstration is intended to show how environmental information can be made useful at the point where communities and health systems act. Attendees can expect an illustrative journey through weather, air-quality and disaster-related signals; their interpretation into location-relevant health-risk information; and the potential for understandable advisories for households, frontline teams and institutions. Examples may include heat, air-quality or flood-related preparedness, with attention to vulnerable populations and possible links to iCHA-led outreach and WHIMS-enabled care processes. The session will distinguish currently demonstrable functions from capabilities still being developed or validated.
The afternoon spotlight is designed as a fast-paced innovation exchange rather than a conventional product showcase. Nine shortlisted organisations, three each from MedTech, Climate & Health and Maternal & Child Care, will present one promising innovation each to a multidisciplinary jury.
The objective is to surface technologies and approaches with a clear health need, a credible intended user and a meaningful question that could benefit from field testing, feedback or evidence generation through the Living Lab.
Presenters should focus on the problem, the intended users and setting, the innovation and its differentiating value, current development or deployment status, and the most important real-world assumption still to be tested.
Nine five-minute slots take 45 of the segment's 70 minutes. The remaining 25 are for jury instructions, transitions, deliberation and the results announcement.
On-stage run of showRecognition or next-step engagement will be determined by the organisers and jury; participation should not be represented as an automatic commitment to funding, validation or procurement.
Participants travel to Alibag to observe iCHA-led household engagement, screening, point-of-care diagnostics, digital data capture, referrals and continued care. The field visit helps translate the forum's ideas into practical product, research and implementation questions.
Meeting point: Gateway of India, Mumbai, at 9:30 AM*
* More details on timing and the precise location will be shared with selected members closer to the date.
Delegates opt in to the field immersion on the registration form. Seats are limited and confirmed with your registration.
The forum aims to leave participants with more than a set of presentations.
Follow-on discussions may identify partners, define the use case, clarify relevant ethical and clinical requirements, and determine an appropriate pathway for implementation learning and evidence generation.