Sustainable fashion - pineapple leaf leather; Women's Health Innovation Summit 2021; Y Combinator's Co-Founder matching platform; Implantable wearables + more
Your go-to place for the latest news and updates on diversity in tech and emerging technologies - wearables, health tech, and IoT.
Happy Monday everyone! 🙂
Drying pineapple leaf fibers are used to make Ananas Anam’s Pinatex. - Ananas Anam
Fashion has a damaging effect on the environment, but there are a number of innovations increasingly being used by big industry names which are looking to change that. The production of clothing and footwear is responsible for 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to data from the European Parliamentary Service and the United Nations. Polyester is the most widely-used clothing fabric in the world, yet it and other synthetic materials are made using fossil fuels.
Carmen Hijosa is the founder of Ananas Anam, a company that produces Pinatex, a natural leather alternative made from pineapple leaf fibers. It was while Hijosa was working as a textiles consultant for the World Bank in the 1990s, advising on the Philippines’ leather exports industry, that she started looking for more sustainable alternative natural materials. This was when Hijosa “discovered” pineapple leaves, which have fibers that are “very fine but are very strong,” she explained. Pinatex is 95% plant-based and the production process is “totally transparently sustainable,” according to Hijosa.
Read more in this fascinating story via CNBC.
Thank you for tuning in this Monday, happy reading! 💌
This is our last newsletter before a summer break, so we want to say Thank you! to everyone who was part of our journey this year. 🙏🏽 We are planning some exciting new projects for fall, so stay tuned for more information about those in September! 🔥
WoW webinars and virtual events 🌎 📆
📌 WoW Members' Meet & Greet - Wearables, HealthTech, FemTech, IoT, Fashion, September 8 (10am and 6pm BST, for all WoW members)
Interested in joining us for one of our future webinars or you would like to discuss partnership and collaboration? Get in touch!
Please leave us feedback about our virtual events so far + what you would like to see from us in the future, for a chance to win one of three annual WoW memberships! 🏆 Survey link here.
WoW community events, news, and updates 💻🌎📆
The Women’s Health Innovation Summit, taking place in Boston on September 14-15 and virtually on September 28, is the sector’s leading platform committed to strengthening the network, tackling unmet needs, and championing innovative approaches and solutions. The focus is not only on female-only health challenges, but female-prevalent diseases and those conditions that affect or present differently in women. Join the leading network of pharmaceuticals, biotechs, medical device companies, start-ups, insurers, CROs, investors, researchers, HCPs, and advocacy groups, to drive innovation at the convergence of healthcare and technology.
Use code WOW10 to save 10% on your ticket!
The Women's Health Innovation Summit Showcase will also present 10 finalists, chosen by the Selection Committee, presenting their company on the main stage this September! They are seeking Femtech and women’s health companies providing a product, solution, or service geared to helping women lead better lives. The platform is about giving a voice to the innovation that will ‘move the needle’ in women’s health and putting that in front of the decision-makers that can accelerate that vision. Application deadline: July 30. Apply here.
📌 Calling all design students! Our friends and partners at Kinneir Dufort are looking for the best inclusively designed and/ or female-focused student projects to celebrate and feature. What do you need to do to enter? Send 10 images of your project, a description of what makes your design female-focused and/ or inclusive, what goals you have for the project, at hayley.maynard@kinneirdufort.com. Good luck!
📌 Calling all femtech and healthtech startups! Apply for Women Startup Challenge FemTech + HealthTech Grants Program by WomenWhoTech, helping to close the funding gap by backing women-led startups globally. Applications deadline July 18.
📌 If you want to make a change in the fertility journey of many women, join the Tech4Eva Fertility Focus Group, whose objective is to foster collaborations between start-ups, experts, corporates, counselors, and patients groups. The Focus Group will kick off July 15th focusing first on how to ensure women are knowledgeable and in control of their fertility at the earliest possible. The facilitators Marzia Massignani and Haider Alleg, Ferring will take you through a co-creation session to design the future of in-fertility prevention. More info here.
📌 Interested in knowing your heart risks? Please take this short quiz offered to you by CorDiFio Heart Health - a femtech startup that is developing a digital platform focused on heart disease in women. CorDiFio is working hard on raising awareness on heart disease - the #1 killer of women more than all cancers combined - and early detect it. They also have the Early Bird pre-sale. Not to miss! They are also looking for a CTO / potential co-founder to join the team. Do you want to be part of it? Or do you know someone who wants to take on this challenge? More info in the CTO role presentation and/or get in touch with Petronela Sandulache at petronela.s@gmail.com or via LinkedIn!
📌 On WoW blog - WoW Woman in Health Tech I Louise Stevenson, founder and CEO of WorryTree
📌 How Has Gender Neutrality Changed Marketing And Does The Term ‘Femtech’ Need To Evolve?
📌 Brittany Baretto: Geneticist to Femtech Entrepreneur, via Business of the V podcast
Industry events, news, and updates 💻🌎📆
Y Combinator developed a cofounder matching platform, so for anyone looking for either a technical counterpart or extra support, this is a great tool to find just that.
How to Measure the Value of Virtual Health Care
21 ways medical digital twins will transform healthcare
Healthcare data sharing: How to improve patient care in the future
New face mask prototype can detect Covid-19 infection
Implantable Wearables – Top 10 Implantables Soon To Be In Your Body
Forget wearables: Future washable smart clothes powered by Wi-Fi will monitor your health
Singapore researchers tap human body as medium to power wearables
A new research effort aims to vet digital health data from wearables
Peloton pops 8% as company announces corporate wellness program and pushes into wearables market
Black & Decker launches a line of emergency wearables for seniors
Tokyo Olympics, Femtech Investing Signal Progress On Gender Parity
🔥 Become a WoW member to learn from and connect with our community of entrepreneurs, designers, and technologists, leverage valuable resources, and discover career opportunities!
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📅 Check out our events page. Check out our upcoming Knowledge Hub sessions.
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