550 - Exporting Innovation: NZ HealthTech Part 1 of 3

We’re excited to collaborate with New Zealand Trade & Enterprise (NZTE) to bring you a mini-series of episodes titled: “Exporting Innovation: NZ HealthTech”, exploring how New Zealand’s healthtech innovators are taking their ideas from home to the world.

This episode is part 1 of 3, so stay tuned for more episodes in the series coming soon!

In this episode of Talking HealthTech, Peter Birch and Rob Milsom from New Zealand Trade & Enterprise (NZTE) introduce Rei Ishikawa (Karo Data Management), Paris Majot (Orion Health), Phil Xue (Odin Health), and Nick Burns (2iQ Health).

The episode focuses on how New Zealand healthtech companies are powering smart healthcare through digital infrastructure, interoperability, and data-driven solutions, both at home and globally.

They cover themes like hospital capacity management, primary/community care innovation, digital integration at massive scale, and the role of credible AI in healthcare transformation.

Key Takeaways

👨‍💻 NZTE highlights New Zealand’s approach to healthtech: innovative, necessity-driven, and values-led, with global ambition to solve hard problems in healthcare delivery.

🏢 Odin Health’s journey from a small NZ operation to supporting over 450 million outpatient visits globally is driven by addressing real pain points in system integration, stability, and scalability.

🌍 Real-world examples show how Norwegian digital infrastructure has been deployed not just in NZ but also at scale in large Chinese hospital settings, demonstrating the power and flexibility of Kiwi technology.

🤝 Karo Data Management’s work underscores the importance of trust, indigenous values, and capturing holistic wellbeing data in primary and community care, making outcomes more relevant and reporting more meaningful.

📶 Orion Health’s focus is on seamless data connectivity, patient engagement, and operational analytics, supporting clinicians with unified clinical records and enabling large-scale AI-driven workflows for preventative care.

🏥 2iQ Health explores proactive public hospital capacity management, making hospital operations more efficient by anticipating demand patterns, maximising limited resources, and streamlining planning for leaders and clinicians.

🔗 Across all companies, the importance of interoperability, real-time data access, cloud infrastructure, and patient-centred design is emphasised as vital for improving both patient outcomes and cost efficiency in healthcare systems.

🤖 AI’s role is becoming increasingly important, but its effectiveness relies on access to quality, well-structured clinical data and meaningful integration into existing workflows.

💡 A global healthtech export mindset, rooted in strong local values, positions New Zealand companies to partner with Australian organisations and those beyond for scalable healthcare innovation.

Check out the episode and full show notes on the Talking HealthTech website.

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