Key Takeaways from the FY2022 Industry Sentiment Survey

• Funding remains the critical challenge
  Access to capital continues as the number one commercialisation challenge, with 80% of companies planning to raise funds in the next 12 months and 11% aiming for $10M+ rounds. However, capital raising timeframes have increased significantly. 62% of companies reported raise times of six months or longer in 2021 versus 48% in 2020. Companies are seeking diverse funding sources, with venture capital (47%), grants (42%), and high net worth investors (32%) as top priorities.
• Regulatory confidence increasing but international gaps emerging
  Half of respondents (50%) agreed that the TGA's Software as a Medical Device guidance provided greater regulatory certainty. Confidence in navigating Australian regulations improved significantly, with 68% reporting complete or fair confidence in 2021 compared to less certainty in 2020. However, confidence in navigating overseas regulations declined to 47% in 2021 from 63% in 2020, with 13% feeling not confident at all.
• Reimbursement pathways essential but telehealth not the solution
  An overwhelming 79% of companies agreed that reimbursement pathways would significantly accelerate business growth. Despite telehealth reimbursement during COVID-19, 47% of companies reported no impact on their business and 33% considered it irrelevant to their technology. Only 41% of respondents felt confident about securing digital health reimbursement in Australia, highlighting the need for broader reimbursement frameworks beyond telehealth.
• Gender gap persists across leadership roles
  The industry continues to face significant gender inequality, with 37% of companies having no female executive staff and 35% having no female board members. On average, executive teams had only 32% female representation (median 25%), while boards averaged 26% female representation. Positively, 47% of companies have one or more female founders and 33% have a female CEO or managing director, though there remains substantial work to address the gender gap.
• COVID-19 accelerated digital health adoption with lasting impact
  Companies demonstrated remarkable resilience, with fewer reporting negative COVID-19 impacts in 2021 compared to 2020 expectations. 35% experienced positive impacts on customer access versus only 17% anticipated in 2020. The majority (58%) believe COVID-19's impact on digital healthcare will be permanent, driven by increased acceptance from medical communities (ranked #1) and patients (ranked #2). Telehealth (60%) and remote monitoring (48%) were identified as the areas most likely to experience sustained growth post-pandemic.