Kia ora and welcome the February edition of the Healthtech Activator (HTA) Monthly Wrap.
Following a strong start to the year, momentum across Aotearoa’s healthtech ecosystem continued through February. This month brought a mix of research funding developments and delivery progress across the health system that are directly relevant to founders, clinicians and partners working to translate innovation into impact.
Research funding and translation signals
At a national level, the announcement of the inaugural Research Funding New Zealand board signals a shift toward more coordinated and strategic research investment. Of relevance for the healthtech sector is the inclusion of Distinguished Professor Sir Peter Hunter, alongside Professor Brett Cowan, whose work spans clinical health sciences and biomedical engineering, and Dr Meika Foster, who brings experience bridging applied science, commercialisation and impact. Together, this mix of expertise reflects a growing focus on connecting research, digital health innovation, and translation into real-world health system outcomes.
Digital health and community-led innovation
February also highlighted strong momentum in digital health, particularly where technology is being shaped by lived experience and frontline insight. This month, HTA launched its new Digital Health page, accompanied by several initiatives that highlight how digital tools are being shaped for practical, real-world application. The Diabetes New Zealand Research Foundation announced recipients of its inaugural small-grant round, supporting initiatives such as the LIFT digital app for rangatahi living with diabetes, alongside digitally enabled research into culturally responsive diabetes care for Chinese and South Asian communities. In parallel, aged care facilities began adopting a world-leading digital Deterioration Early Warning System developed in New Zealand, supporting earlier recognition of clinical deterioration and more timely intervention. Together, these examples reflect a growing emphasis on digital health solutions that are practical, context-aware, and outcomes-focused.
Progress was also evident in the digital foundations of care delivery. February updates to the GP2GP programme showed steady improvements in the reliability of electronic patient record transfers between general practices. Recent patient management system releases are reducing transfer errors and strengthening interoperability across primary care.
HTA capability highlight: In-depth support
To support founders navigating this evolving landscape, HTA continues to provide in-depth, hands-on capability support. Through one-to-one advisory sessions and access to specialist tools and databases, HTA works with teams to move beyond high-level assumptions and build evidence-led strategies that stand up to scrutiny from customers, investors and health system decision-makers.
Alongside this, the HTA Directory profiles organisations and capabilities across the ecosystem, helping increase visibility and connect founders with partners, investors and the health system.
If you are building, validating or scaling a healthtech solution, explore HTA’s capability support or get in touch to see how we can help.
Build to Scale Series
HTA’s Build to Scale Series is now underway, sharing practical insights for healthtech teams navigating the transition from validation to scale. The series explores topics such as evidence generation, readiness, and adoption within real world health system contexts.
A dedicated webpage bringing the full collection of videos together is coming soon. In the meantime, videos are rolling out on LinkedIn over the coming weeks. Follow HTA to stay up to date as the series continues.
