NewGen Surgical, Inc. Wins Health Care / Medical Tech Category at the North Bay Innovation Summit
September 18, 2015 – San Rafael, CA – NewGen Surgical, Inc., announced that it won the Health Care / Medical Tech 2015 category at the seventh annual North Bay Innovation Summit. Hosted by SoCo Nexus and North Bay iHub, the Summit featured four industry categories with 12 start-ups and early stage businesses pitching live to a panel of judges and an audience of over 200. The prize was $1,000 cash for each category winner. The Health Care / Medical Tech category sponsor was Dow Charitable Giving Fund.
The judges for the Health Care / Medical Tech category were:
• Howard Leonhardt, Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Leonhardt Ventures
• Y. King Liu, Founder and Chairman, University of Northern California
• Michael P. Maszy, VP, Manufacturing, Trivascular
• Erik Griswold, President and CEO, Industrial & Consumer Innovation, Inc.
• Remy Gross, VP, BD & Technology Advancement, Buck Institute for Research on Aging
The North Bay iHub was created in response to the State of California’s Innovation Hub program to stimulate economic growth through regional innovation. By connecting resources and networks, the North Bay iHub supports innovative start-ups through gatherings, business education programming and events like Innovation Week and the North Bay Innovation Summit.
“It is inspiring to be among these entrepreneurs of the North Bay,” said Rob Chase, Founder and President of NewGen Surgical, Inc. “And we are honored to have been selected by this panel of accomplished judges as the winner of the Health Care and Medical Tech Category. It is nice to receive validation of our mission to offer hospitals sustainably designed products that help green their O.R.”
Local pioneer, John Webley, delivered the keynote, providing insights into his success bringing innovations to market. Webley, now the CEO of Trevi Systems, a Petaluma-based start-up working on energy reduction solutions to salt water desalination to offset the effects of climate change. This is innovative solution will enable people to have access to potable water regardless of geographic or socioeconomic barriers. Kimberlee Luedee-Chase, Chief Marketing Officer of NewGen Surgical, Inc. added, “The use of biomimicry in their design process is brilliant. We were inspired by the stories this life-long entrepreneur shared to motivate the audience to keep going, keep innovating and keep pushing. ”