Philippine MedTech startups invited to join KUMIHIMO Tech Camp Singapore 2026

Philippine medical technology (MedTech) startups are being invited to scale their solutions regionally through the newly launched KUMIHIMO Tech Camp Singapore 2026.

Organized by Japan-based electronics components provider Murata Electronics Singapore in partnership with open innovation platform Tribe, the inaugural program calls on Filipino innovators alongside peers across ASEAN and India to co-create purpose-built healthcare technologies engineered to tackle the region’s pressing medical challenges.

KUMIHIMO Tech Camp Singapore 2026 focuses on three challenge areas where Murata’s hardware capabilities and startup innovation can combine to deliver measurable impact: preventing and detecting dual disease burden across chronic and infectious conditions, monitoring environment-linked health risks from pollution, heat, and climate change, and expanding access to affordable screening and diagnosis beyond major urban centers.

Selected teams will join a structured program combining technical onboarding, mentorship and direct engagement with Murata’s engineering and business development teams. Participants can receive support to gain exclusive access to Murata’s hardware platforms, components, and core technologies, backed by direct guidance from Murata engineers and business representatives, and curated mentorship from MedTech experts. Tribe will run structured mentor pairings and Demo Day pitch coaching throughout.

The program culminates in Demo Day on Nov. 26 in Singapore, where startups present to a panel of Murata leadership, Tribe mentors and invited industry partners. One winning team will receive a S$10,000 cash prize in recognition of their innovation and commercial potential. Beyond Demo Day, high-potential teams may continue into Proof-of-Concept and Non-Recurring Engineering engagements with Murata, alongside longer-term co-development and partnership opportunities for solutions that align with Murata’s strategic focus areas.

Tribe will design and run the program end-to-end, from open call and startup selection, through mentorship and technical onboarding with Murata’s hardware platforms, to Demo Day and post-program commercial pathways. The collaboration brings together Murata’s global components and engineering capabilities with Tribe’s deeply rooted network of startups, mentors and industry experts across APAC region.

DM Venkatesan, General Manager, Regional New Business Development, Murata Electronics Singapore, said, “The healthcare challenges across ASEAN and India are real and urgent, and off-the-shelf technology was not built to solve them. Startups that can combine hardware innovation with deep local context are best placed to change that.”

Yi Ming Ng, co-founder of Tribe Accelerator, said: “Alongside Murata Manufacturing’s hardware platforms and engineering depth, Tribe will put our extensive regional networks to work for selected teams, facilitating 1:1 sessions with strategists, subject matter experts, and investors who have shipped and invested in MedTech across Southeast Asia and India. That contextual guidance, combined with deep-tech collaboration, is what turns strong technical ideas into deployable, commercially viable solutions for the markets that need them most.”

The program is open to deep-tech and MedTech startups headquartered or operating in eligible countries, at Technology Readiness Level 3 and above. Solutions must adopt a disease-centric, hardware-and-software approach, either by leveraging Murata’s existing component technologies or by applying one of three core technology tracks: Downsizing Technology, Sensing Technology, or Information and Communications Technology. Purely lifestyle or wellness-focused solutions, and pharmaceutical or biological approaches, are outside the program’s scope.

Applications will close on July 31, 2026, with the top 10 teams selected by mid-August. The Development Phase runs from September to November 2026, ahead of Demo Day on Nov. 26. Interested startups can find more information and apply via KUMIHIMO Tech Camp Singapore page: https://tribex.co/programs/kumihimo-singapore.

SparkUp is BusinessWorld’s multimedia brand created to inform, inspire, and empower the Philippine startups; micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs); and future business leaders. This section will be published every other Monday. For pitches and releases about startups, e-mail to [email protected] (cc: [email protected]). Materials sent become BW property.