On the side-lines of its participation at Arab Health 2022, the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH), the regulator of the healthcare sector in the emirate, and the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA), announced a collaboration in an effort to promote cooperation on technological innovation in the fields of health and bio-convergence.
Bio-convergence has been recognised as the latest technological trend of the 21st century for the healthcare sector. It is a transdisciplinary field that merges engineering and life sciences and is set to revolutionise the health-tech industry. Bio-convergence fuses life sciences with different technologies from fields such as mathematics, engineering, and physical and computational sciences, creating a sum far greater than the total of all its parts.
In attendance of H.E. Abdulla bin Mohamed Al Hamed, Chairman of DoH, the Declaration of Collaboration was virtually signed by H.E. Dr. Jamal Mohammed Al Kaabi, Undersecretary of DoH and by Dror Bin, CEO of IIA. This partnership will focus on the formation of an alliance to promote collaborative Health Innovation projects in areas of strategic importance, such as bio-convergence inviting entities from both Abu Dhabi and Israel. With a focus on the development of an innovative healthcare ecosystem, both entities will organise joint seminars and meetings to promote cooperation in Health Innovation, including opportunities for proof-of-concept projects and clinical trials, between companies from Abu Dhabi and Israel.
H.E. Dr. Jamal Mohammed Al Kaabi, Undersecretary of DoH said: “Thanks to the directives of our wise leadership, Abu Dhabi continues to adapt the latest healthcare innovations and collaborate with leaders in the industry in an effort to preserve the health and safety of all members of our community. The Department of Health – Abu Dhabi looks forward to joining forces with the Israel Innovation Authority and collaborate on key healthcare topics such as bio-convergence. This is another step towards enforcing Abu Dhabi’s position as a life sciences hub and incubator for innovative technologies and solutions.”
Dror Bin said: “The agreement between the Israel Innovation Authority and the Department of Health - Abu Dhabi is a unique opportunity to leverage Abu Dhabi’s advanced and booming healthtech ecosystem and Israel's innovation capabilities in the area of healthcare. It is also an opportunity to advance a multidisciplinary innovative approach of Bio Convergence - merging between the field of life sciences and medical technologies and engineering and AI. We look forward to creating new bridges between both our ecosystems to shape together the healthcare of the future, in the Middle East and worldwide.”
This collaboration comes on the heels of Plug and Play Abu Dhabi and the Department of Health - Abu Dhabi HealthTech accelerator partnership, which provided a global program for DoH to build international innovation bridges through public and private events. The most recent being held with the Israeli Innovation Authority, in which Plug and Play Abu Dhabi facilitated two private HealthTech events that brought together Israel & Abu Dhabi based health stakeholders, investors & startups to connect and identify the best collaboration pathways between the two countries, ensuring that both health ecosystems work closer.
The National Technological Innovation Authority in Israel launched the bio-convergence program, in an effort to accelerate technology transfer, build frameworks that will advance academic knowledge and knowledge exchange. The technology will strengthen the healthcare sector through attracting foreign investment, supporting start-ups and establishing additional collaborations with local and international leaders in the healthcare industry. Additionally, bio-convergence is focused on applied (and basic) multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary research in Israeli academia in order to preserve a global scientific advantage and advance the local innovation ecosystem towards the field of Bio-convergence.
Arab Health is the largest medical exhibition in the Middle East and is taking place this year at the Dubai World Trade Centre from 24 to 27 January 2022. Exhibition visitors can visit DoH’s stand number C10 at hall no. 5 for an opportunity to explore the latest innovations in the healthcare industry.
