Dr Hana Hughes is Director of Business Development at Vigor Medical Technologies. She brings over 20 years of medical device experience across Europe and the US, spanning deep technical expertise and commercial growth, and has led two MedTech companies, in genetic diagnostics and in smart physiotherapy for people with disabilities. She spent over a decade as Head of Business and Technical Development at Applied Functional Materials, a University of Birmingham spinout, working on medical ultrasound devices and the advanced materials behind transducers and sensors. A Marie Curie Fellow at CEITEC Brno and an Expert Evaluator for the European Commission, she has secured funding through Horizon 2020, the EIC, TACR CZ and Innovate UK, giving her firsthand insight into what investors and funding bodies look for in scaling medtech ventures. She holds a PhD in Materials Engineering from the University of Manchester.