Welcome

Acknowledgement of Country

Starting with our Why?

What gets us out of bed in the morning? Why is brain health our north star?

• Professor Mark Cook – The Sir John Eccles Chair of Medicine and Director of Clinical Neurosciences, St Vincent’s Hospital

BrainTech 2026 State of Play

An overview of where braintech stands today, what is changing in neuroscience, technology and investment?

• Andrew Morokoff – Neurosurgeon and Associate Professor, The University of Melbourne
• Adam Caplan – Founder and General Partner, Jumpspace Ventures

What I’ve learnt about what comes next

John will share his view of the future while reflecting on past experiences from early days at Cochlear to building Saluda.

• John Parker

Panel: Depth, Breadth and the Magic Inbetween

How can breadth and depth – across disciplines, teams and lived experience – help us solve the right problems and build breakthroughs that actually reach patients and improve their brain health?

• Professor Nicholas Opie – CEO, Ultra Bionics; Founding Director, Synchron; Head of Vascular Bionics Laboratory, The University of Melbourne
• Dr Elise Jenkins – Co-founder, Coherence Neuro
• Dr Shieak Tzeng – Co-founder and CEO, Wellumio
• Moderator: Dr Erin McAllum – Director, Strategic Development & Impact, AUScelerate

From Data to Better Brain Health

How can we unlock data to enable personalised approaches to better understand individuals, predict risk, inform interventions and ultimately improve patient outcomes.

• Donna Hutchison – National Director of Service Growth, St Vincent’s Health Australia
• Dr Elise Jenkins – Co-founder, Coherence Neuro
• Anton de Weger – Digital and Technology Lead, The Australian Epilepsy Project, The Florey

Panel: Device to Patient

Why do great technologies die between the lab and the patient? Dive into the importance of derisking from the get-go and how regulatory and payment pathways go hand in hand.

• Dr Mary Beth Brinson – CEO, Wavewise Analytics
• Oona Reardon – Managing Director, Pulse Economics
• Adele Barnard – Clinical Research Director, Nutromics
• Moderator: Dr Lillian Dipnall

Panel: Australia: The Braintech Capital for Brain Health

It’s 2036. The headline reads – Australia becomes Global BrainTech Capital – How did we get there?!!

• Ian Meredith – Non-Executive Director, Innovation Victoria and AUScelerate
• Adam Caplan – Founder and General Partner, Jumpspace Ventures
• John Parker
• Shane Storey – Senior Research Analyst, Canaccord Genuity Australia
• Moderator: Andrew Maxwell – Chairman, Wavewise

Provocation: The Future of Braintech Is Small! Or does the future lie somewhere else?

Here speakers make the case for their vision of the future of Braintech, and battle it out over what comes next.

• Professor David Grayden – Clifford Chair in Neural Engineering, The University of Melbourne
• Tim Mahoney – CEO, Fluent
• Andrew Morokoff – Neurosurgeon and Associate Professor, The University of Melbourne
• Dr Diana Zhang – Founder and CEO, Preview Health
• Moderator: Ludovic Labat – CEO, Neo-Bionica

Concluding Remarks – Room votes on the Future!