Enterprise stories: Moises Ramos and Drill Surgeries.

Posted on: 10 August 2021 in Enterprise

I studied a Master of Physics at the University of Liverpool from 2016 to 2020. Since I was 10 years old, I have always loved the art of magic, and, driven by curiosity, I eventually became a spectator of the secret’s the Universe hides, my thirst for knowledge to understand this magic from the Universe pushed me to study this mysterious field.

I am currently living in Spain and looking forward to going back to Liverpool when the pandemic eases.

As you may have guessed from the paragraph above, one of my favourite interests is magic. I have actually studied magic for the past 12 years, for me, there is something beautiful in this art, it forces you to create new secrets and to practise until difficult and “finger-breaking” sleight-of-hand becomes seamless and natural. It teaches a lot about determination and creativity.

Other interests include football and languages. I believe languages hide the key to understanding different cultures’ point of view, I spent my years at Liverpool studying Chinese Mandarin alongside my degree and now I am studying Russian.

About my business idea and how it has developed so far:

I have spent most of my life around a hospital, feeling trapped, and that feeling of helplessness has accompanied me ever since. Until two years ago when I partnered with a doctor to solve a problem orthopaedic surgeons have during one of their most popular surgeries.

We are the only startup applying Augmented Reality and AI treats to fix this problem, our algorithms and novel interface guide the surgeons to operate faster and more accurately without the need for radiation.

Doctors will do a better job; patients will receive 50% fewer X-Rays (lowering the risks of cancer in weak individuals) and hospitals will speed up waiting lists.

In these two years, we have received priceless support from the European Union, Santander Universities UK, The University of Liverpool, etc. We developed a proof of concept device in early 2020, helped to fight the pandemic creating an open-source project that got hundreds of downloads the first 24 hours and we are growing our team to finalise a fully working prototype.

 What is the next step?

The next step in our work is expanding the team. We firmly believe that the best results come from collaboration so, we are finally in a position to grow and bring new talent on board.

In fact, our first hire is an aerospace engineer graduate from the University of Liverpool who is leading the development of our hardware IP and we expect to bring onboard at least a couple of other people, students and/graduates in the following months.

Did you participate in any enterprise activity or programmes at university?

I did participate in a series of enterprise activities, on one hand, I participated in the Enterprise Fund award and won it on three different occasions, and, on the other hand, I also attended the first EMERGE by Lab by Capacity accelerator programme for the University of Liverpool students. In this accelerator programme, I had the chance to learn from experienced mentors and share my failures with peer students to learn from each other.

Have they helped you?

I was actually reflecting on the impact these activities have had on my entrepreneurial journey not too long ago. When we started, my co-founder and I, only counted with some expertise in this industry and a wild idea to change how healthcare is provided for the better but, we did not count with economical support nor a background in medical device R & D as to convince people that our idea had future.

Thank the initial support from Santander Universities UK and the University of Liverpool with the Enterprise fund, we could kick-start our entrepreneurial journey with these non-biased institutions believing in us and our mission.

We had to knock on many doors to get our feet in this industry eventually but, without this initial support, I am sure we would have had to knock on many more doors, many more times.

Do you feel connected to other enterprising students?

In my years at the University of Liverpool, I had the chance to connect with various entrepreneurs, some of them were already friends of mine before they made the jump into entrepreneurship and they seem to be doing great.

What would you like to gain from your experiences

I remember when I was 5 years old how my dad, who has been a salesman in the medical sector for 30 years, would arrive so late at home due to the surgeries he had to assist at getting delayed, as they are not performed efficiently enough, that he would find me asleep on the couch waiting for him.

At the time I felt so frustrated but, I am now in a position to improve how surgeries are performed around the world, reducing radiation by 50%, improving accuracy and avoiding unnecessary risks.

What I expect from this entrepreneurial experience is to create the change in healthcare I have been working towards for these past two years and the many that, hopefully, will follow.

Perhaps, going one step further so that no 5-year-old has to fall asleep on the couch waiting for their parents to come back from the hospital again.

Do you have any top tips to share with future and current students looking to bring their idea to life?

My advice for future entrepreneur students is the opposite of what I was told by many adults when I was wondering if I should be an entrepreneur.

“Do not be Coherent” – I was always told to be coherent, to follow the traditional path of things and that would give me a safe and comfortable life, but the thing is that life is just so exciting and full of possibilities that we should not sit down doing what others think is right for us.

So, if you are a student and have an idea for the next big thing, do it. You will learn more about life in 6 months running your own startup than you will do at any 9 to 5 job. It is hard, there are many moments in which you may feel alone or overwhelm by the workload (especially if you start from your dorm at University) but the feeling of creating something by yourself and seeing it grow and creating an impact on the people around you is priceless. In the end, you will realise you are not alone.