An industry report into Australia's start-up scene showed in 2018 Queensland had the second-highest number of start-ups in the country, many of them health and medical focused.

And at a start-up convention held in Brisbane in October, 26 per cent of entrants into a start-up competition were in the medical technology sector.

Early in November, the state's third Chief Entrepreneur, Leanne Kemp, described innovation as "the oxygen that flows within our blood ... the DNA of our communities".

For some of the medical technology start-ups that are making their name in Queensland, the medical analogy certainly rings true.

Venture capitalist Benjamin Chong, who came to Brisbane in October for entrepreneur convention StartCon, said Queensland's strong medical research facilities and hospitals meant the state was a natural location for 'medtech' start-ups.

"I wonder whether it has been a combination of medical students provided with a broad education, a combination of the four medical schools in Queensland, and ... the general disposition of people wanting to help folks with the various medtech entries," Mr Chong said.

The $650 million Advance Queensland initiative is pouring money into innovation and development, offering support to start-ups around the state, and CSIRO's new Data61 office in Brisbane aims to improve data programming abilities to better support innovation.

For one medical start-up, it was a waiting game for technology to catch up with entrepreneurial vision.

Maxwell Plus, based in Brisbane, combines artificial intelligence with medical imaging and patient data to improve cancer diagnoses and support.

Co-founder and chief executive of Maxwell Plus, Elliot Smith has a team of about 20 (including Kelsey the dog) working on the two-year-old app.

"One of the big challenges for us was because [artificial intelligence] as a career and a skillset was quite new at the time, definitely finding high quality AI talent was a challenge," Dr Smith said.

"What we found was our best approach was not to look at someone with 10 years' experience, because they don’t exist, but to find people coming out of university or industry with a passion for upskilling in this space."

The motivation for another app, Helpa, came from the personal experience of a Sunshine Coast father.

When his son Tyson was diagnosed with autism five years ago, Stuart Kruger realised he needed more support.

The result was was Helpa, an app that connects parents and families to support services through high-definition video calls, allowing carers to immediately access support when dealing with challenging behaviours.

Mr Kruger said he decided to develop the app, which also tracks behavioural observations, milestones, assessments and experiences, to give his family a tool to centralise Tyson's health management.

“There was nowhere for us to go to access relevant, affordable and valuable support options and subject matter expertise for instrumental aspects of daily life, things change so quickly on these journeys," Mr Kruger said.

“There was no tool to map his journey and extend the value of Tyson’s therapy, and no way for us to easily share his health progress and information, our social experiences, and what we had learned with others.”

Mr Kruger said research showed patients forgot up to 80 per cent of what they were told by a GP immediately after an appointment - his app helps combat that, particularly for carers of people with special needs.

While Mr Kruger's app developed steadily over time, and was already for a targeted audience that did not have to meet specific medical regulations, Maxwell Plus took a little longer to get off the ground.

Mr Chong said for entrepreneurs in the medtech space, successfully winning investors over could be difficult as health and data regulation meant there were more hoops to jump through before an app or innovation could go to market.

But as the start-up scene expands, he said dedicated investors were looking to put their money specifically in the medical space.

Dr Smith said in the initial stages, Maxwell Plus ran into such problems - investors simply wanted a faster turnaround, without having to wait for the regulation processes and then the marketing process of convincing doctors to use it.

"It certainly took us longer than others in the space but I think it’s about finding the right people," he said.

"When we went to fundraise we saw some traditional startup supporters and they said 18 months is too long [to wait]."

But with the right investors, Maxwell Plus has joined the ranks of Queensland start-ups that are showing promise for the future.

For the future, Dr Smith hopes to see one of Queensland's many medtech start-ups go big, competing with Silicon Valley for recognition and prestige.

"Maybe people don't realise ... just how many startups there are," he said.

"Even outside the hubs scattered all around the city and the Valley, and even further afield there are dozens if not hundreds of new ventures spinning up all the time.

"I think it’s pretty exciting to see it happening."