In this episode we spoke to scientist and entrepreneur Dr Jason Mellad about why businesses embracing diversity are setting themselves up for success. He shared his own experience as an entrepreneur, gave his tips for innovators from different backgrounds pitching to accelerator programmes and suggested ways we could all be more inclusive.
“Historically there’s been a very strong moral argument around diversity and how important as it is to open doors for those who’ve been historically underrepresented in different fields – whether it be ethnic minorities, racial groups or gender… but increasingly it’s been recognized that is also a fundamental good solid business decision to drive diversity because time and time again the metrics have shown that more diverse teams outperform teams that are more homogeneous.”
You can listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts by clicking here, or play below.
Jason is passionate about translating innovative technologies into better patient outcomes. As CEO and co-founder of Start Codon, a Cambridge based accelerator, he aims to identify and recruit the most disruptive healthcare start-ups worldwide, seed fund them and leverage the exceptional resources of the Cambridge cluster to de-risk and drive their success.
You can access the report Jason mentions here: Diversity wins: How inclusion matters by McKinsey.
Diversity isn’t a box to check, it is a strength to build upon which makes us better. Read about the AHSN Network diversity pledges to ensure that the transformation of our health service reduces and doesn’t widen health inequalities.
NHS Employers and NHS Confederation chief executive Danny Mortimer spoke to Health Innovation East about the impact of MedTech, innovation and a collaborative approach across the health system in the response to COVID-19.
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