Amongst the recommendations handed down in the Final Report from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety was the proposal to establish an aged care research and innovation fund that will support and enable a future focussed sector.

This recommendation signals enormous potential ahead for innovation in Australian aged care. New approaches to care, tech-driven services, and solutions designed to meet changing customer needs are just some of the frontiers where opportunity is boundless.

To support and amplify innovative thinking in the sector, Bentleys developed CareFactor– an accelerated program of growth and learning that offers aged care start-ups, entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs access to mentors, community and networks in aged care, technology, marketing, investors and capital raising. CareFactor enables creators of new solutions, aged care providers and innovation experts to collaborate on transformative solutions.

Over the past two years, Bentleys – supported by major sponsor Telstra Health along with program sponsors ACSA (Aged & Community Services Australia), Paynters, SprintVC, Redchip and Westpac, and program partners AWS, CRC Longevity, Global Centre for Modern Ageing, the Office of the Queensland Chief Entrepreneur and Austrade – have had the pleasure of working with twenty ingenious teams. Through CareFactor – we have helped these innovators to rapidly scale ideas for national and international markets.

We have also had the honour of hosting Pitch Days and introducing these teams to aged care providers and industry participants who have shared in the buzz and excitement of ideas that are changing the game for the aged care sector.

CareFactor 2021 is now under development. The next program offers yet another opportunity for innovators and aged care providers to work together to create new solutions for aged care. We can’t wait to see what’s next!

ABOUT THE PROGRAM Who is CareFactor for? HEAR FROM THE TEAMS AND JUDGES

Interested in applying as a CareFactor team for 2021?

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CareFactor Pitch Day recording

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And the CareFactor 2020 winner is…

Bentleys’ aged care incubator CareFactor has celebrated its second successful year, with team ‘My Dementia Companion’ winning the judges over at the Pitch Day program finale on Tuesday 23 March.

An online audience of almost 150 heard compelling pitches from ten teams, ranging from entrepreneurs and startups, to university academics and intrapreneurial aged care provider spin-offs.

While their solutions were unique and diverse, the teams were driven by their shared passion – and the mission at the core of CareFactor – which is to solve key industry challenges, and improve the quality of life of ageing Australians, now and in the future.

The winning pitch presented by CEO and founder Nan Yu, My Dementia Companion reimagines dementia support to walk family, friends, and carers through one of life’s most complex and challenging journeys.

Fellow team HomeGuardian.ai won the People’s Choice vote following an online audience poll. With the pitch delivered by Kane Sajdak, HomeGuardian.ai is a patented, world first, AI driven behavioural analysis smart home device, detecting everything from falls to decline in health.

The calibre across all ten teams was extremely strong, and the cohort showed rapid progression from when the program began in November 2020.

About the Program

CareFactor is a purpose-built program to foster innovators of all descriptions to develop unique solutions to aged care industry challenges.The program runs across three key phases – as below. In 2021, we will investigate a hybrid delivery format (face-to-face + online components).

3 Day Masterclass

The Masterclass provides three days of intensive learning and rapid development, including expert presentations, innovation workshops and our flagship “speed pitching” session with aged care providers. Topics include:

aged care industry
entrepreneurship & commercialisation
finance & investment-ready
costing & budgeting
marketing and communications
human resources and hiring

Who is CareFactor for?

Entrepreneurs and start-ups
Innovators and ‘intrapreneurs’ within aged care (or other) organisations
Researchers or university students

8 Week Mentoring Course

Over eight-weeks, teams engage with CareFactor’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence. Sessions are focused on goal planning and achievement, growth guidance and pitch preparation. In addition, exclusive weekly themed content is shared with the cohort (including industry-specific webinars).

Why participate?

Every part of the program has been tailored to help you commercialise your idea.

Intensive Learning – Hands-on workshops with market-leading tools teaching you how to commercialise.
Structured Program – Based on proven recipes for putting innovation into practice, delivered by experts.
Best-in-class Mentors – Guided engagement with expert mentors and industry stakeholders.
Exclusive Networking – Access to industry experts and mentors, as well as an opportunity to pitch to investors.
Subsidised Participation – Participants will receive up to $10,000 of in-kind value over the 12 weeks

Pitch Day

All teams will be given the opportunity to pitch their project or start-up to an audience of customers, investors, buyers and the broader innovation ecosystem.

Hear from the teams and judges

“There’s been a lot of hard work that goes into it from all of the teams and we’re just really grateful to be a part of the first cohort for CareFactor”.

– Gregory Satur & Simon Heaysman (Hayylo – CareFactor 2019 winners)

“It was an excellent program, especially around the connections that you get with the providers – the potential customers”.

– Kieran Costello (Comunify)

“This is by far and away the best program we’ve been involved in”.

– Scott Jenson (Moovosity)

2019 Highlights

Congratulations to the winners

CareFactor Pitch Finalist 2019 sponsored by Austrade: Greg Satur and Simon Heaysman from hayylo
CareFactor People’s Choice Pitch Award sponsored by Xero: Phill Forostenko from Beartrap
Trademark package sponsored by Redchip Lawyers: Greg Satur and Simon Heaysman from hayylo

Thank you and congratulations to all of our 2019 CareFactor Teams: hayylo, Moovosity, Cogniant.co, RiskTeq, Beartrap, BoostNQ, Comunify, Fase3, EchoCare, and Raise the Bar.

Thank you also to our 2019 sponsors: Redchip, Paynters, Australia Unlimited, Queensland Chief Entrepreneur, Advancer, Sprint Ventures, Aged & Community Services Australia and Westpac.