Startups aiming to help patients with mental or digestive issues can improve healthcare systems around the world
BRATISLAVA – The international acceleration program HealthCare Lab, focused on innovations in digital healthcare, will present the winning startups of the second edition. Nine unique projects aiming to improve the quality of healthcare and the lives of patients have been improving their innovative ideas over the course of three months with the help of international mentors, business coaches and investors. During the final online Demo Day, taking place on April 6, 2022, the three winning startups will receive a financial reward of 10,000 euros, in addition to valuable experience and important contacts. The expert jury will choose the winners based on the scalability of the business, impact on patients and healthcare and the final pitch presentation.
The future of healthcare lies in innovation
The goal of the HealthCare Lab program is to support the development of innovative solutions in healthcare with a focus on startups. The accelerator, which was originally created in Slovakia for Slovak and Czech startups, has expanded its scope. Today, it includes startups, experts, and partners from 16 countries in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe. HealthCare Lab is supported by Roche, a global biotechnology company and EIT Health, Europe’s largest network of healthcare innovators. The program is organized by the consulting company CIVITTA focused on innovation and startup support. One of the organizers’ intentions is not only to support startups, but also to demonstrate the great potential of digital innovations in healthcare. “We fully realize that in order to achieve sustainable innovation in healthcare, the partnerships are essential and we recognize this as our responsibility towards the patients. The combination of an active innovation ecosystem, medical research, data and digital technology has the potential to deliver better outcomes for patients faster. At Roche, we are proud of the valuable partnerships established within the Central, Eastern and Southern Europeanstartup community with the enormous support of projects such as Healthcare Lab,“ said Daren Wilson, general manager of Roche Slovensko.
Data and early diagnostics are getting more important
Healthcare Lab has one clear goal: to contribute to a healthier Europe. Therefore, in its second edition, the program is focused on three key challenges: data management,screening and early diagnostics, and digital treatment and disease management. From more than 200 applications from over 30 countries, the organizers selected nine startups that completed a three-month acceleration program, which included workshops, networking sessions, and individual mentoring with more than thirty coaches, investors and experts. “EIT Health shapes and molds innovative ideas, which can truly help revolutionise healthcare in Europe. EIT Health has supported approximately 1,200 startups, who gathered more than 247M euro of external investment. Together with 150 partners, we have helped them enter the market and scale up to serve patients and citizens. Healthcare Lab is yet another programme disclosing an impressive innovative potential in the Central, Eastern and Southern regions”– said Tamas Bekasi, RIS Business Creation Manager at EIT Health.
Business scalability or impact on patients
The second year of the HealthCare Lab program will culminate in the online Demo Day event, which will take place on April 6, 2022 at 5:00 p.m CET. Demo day will bring together key players from the areas of innovation, healthcare, inspirational speakers and especially startups, who have the potential to positively affect the development of healthcare in our region. One of the keynote speakers of the event will be Padraic Ward, Head of Roche Pharma International. Mr Ward will speak about the future of innovation in healthcare, but also about the most promising trends in personalized healthcare and the potential of startup-corporate collaboration to bring ground-breaking innovations, in order to save the lives of patients. “We believe that startups play a key role in bringing new ideas, new approaches and new solutions in the healthcare sector to improve the lives of patients. HealthCare Lab Demo Day is a great opportunity for anyone to see what the future of healthcare will look like and to hear more about the most promising digital health innovations that come from our region,” said Peter Kolesár, partner at Civitta Slovakia.
During the Demo Day event, each of the final startups will have three minutes to present their innovative project. The expert jury will then have another three minutes to ask additional questions. In selecting the winning startups from each category, the jury will take into consideration criteria such as the quality of the final presentation, the scalability of the business and the impact on patients and healthcare. In addition to the three winners chosen by the experts, the online audience will also be able to vote for their favorite. The winner of the public award will receive a package of services that will include legal advisory and consultation from the program sponsors. Register in advance to watch the Online Demo Day here. For more information on the HealthCare Lab program, visit www.healthcarelab.eu.
Which startups have completed the acceleration program?
Oncochain (Romania)
Oncochain builds a research platform that enables collaborative collection of real-world data and provision of value-based care in oncology.
Upmedic (Poland)
Upmedic offers an intelligent creator of structured medical documentation, satisfying the ever growing demand for medical diagnostics by helping doctors work smarter and more efficiently.
Kelvin Health (Bulgaria)
Kelvin Health applies mobile thermography AI for non-invasive vascular health screening, monitoring and early diagnostics to save the limbs and lives of patients with diabetes.
ELM Genomic (Turkey)
ELM Genomics is a healthcare analytics startup developing genomics products for early screening and diagnosis of rare diseases in newborns with the goal of early intervention to prevent irreversible mental and physical damages, while also providing DNA-based lifestyle trait reports and recommendations with lifetime value.
Vagustim Bioelectronics (Turkey)
Vagustim is a digital therapeutic for patients suffering from digestive diseases using customized non-invasive auricular vagus nerve stimulation technology.
BrachyDOSE (Lithuania)
BrachyDOSE is a game changing solution made to prevent up to 100% of radiotherapy treatment errors for most common cancer cases.
Calmsie (Poland)
Calmsie helps children suffering from depression and anxiety by providing a digital therapeutic program that enhances the recovery process so that it is more interactive, engaging, and effective.
Synovius (Romania)
Synovius is an ultra-portable motorized device for joints recovery, capable of moving patients limbs, which can be used by people with paraplegia directly in the wheelchair.
PONS (Turkey/US)
The anywhere ultrasound, PONS, is an AI integrated mobile ultrasound technology that can be used by consumers or pharmacies and provide medical imaging and risk assessment of the patient to the doctor remotely.
About Roche
Roche is a pioneer in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics, focused on advances in science and improving people’s lives. The combined power of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics under one roof has made Roche a leader in personalized healthcare – possessing a strategy to find the right and appropriate treatment for every single patient.
Roche is the largest biotechnology company in the world, offering truly differentiated drugs in the fields of oncology, immunology, infectious diseases, ophthalmology and central nervous system diseases. Roche is also a world leader in in-vitro diagnostics and tissue diagnostics of cancer, as well as a pioneer in diabetes management.
Roche was founded in 1896 and since then has continued to look for ways to best prevent, diagnose and treat diseases and benefit society. The company’s goal is to improve patients’ access to healthcare innovation with the help of all relevant parties. More than thirty drugs developed by Roche are included in the World Health Organization’s list of essential drugs, including life-saving antibiotics, antimalarials and oncology drugs. In addition, Roche has received recognition eleven times in a row from the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) as one of the most sustainable companies in the pharmaceutical industry.
The Roche Group, headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, is active in more than 100 countries with a staff of approx. 98,000 people worldwide in 2019. In 2019, Roche invested CHF 11.7 billion in research and development and reported sales of CHF 61.5 billion. Genentech in the USA is owned completely by Roche. Roche is also the majority owner of Chugai Pharmaceutical shares in Japan. For more information, visit www.roche.com.
About EIT Health
EIT Health is a network of best-in-class health innovators with approximately 150 partners and is supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union. We collaborate across borders to deliver new solutions that can enable European citizens to live longer, healthier lives.
As Europeans tackle the challenge of increasing chronic diseases and multi-morbidity, and seek to realize the opportunities that technology offers to move beyond conventional approaches to treatment, prevention and healthy lifestyles, we need thought leaders, innovators and efficient ways to bring innovative healthcare solutions to market.
EIT Health addresses these needs. We connect all relevant healthcare players across European borders – making sure to include all sides of the “knowledge triangle”, so that innovation can happen at the intersection of research, education, and business for the benefit of citizens. For more information, visit https://eithealth.eu.
About CIVITTA
CIVITTA is an innovation advisory firm with a mission to be a catalyst for the new economy. CIVITTA helps startups grow and scale; universities to commercialize R&D; corporations to build and accelerate innovation inside the company, and governments to build innovation communities and ecosystems. CIVITTA runs leading startup acceleration programs in CEE such as Ajujaht, Challenger or HealthCare Lab. Headquartered in Estonia and with a team of 350 innovators working across 18 countries, the company has a track record of bringing change across sectors with a holistic and hands-on approach to innovation projects. CIVITTA covers the entire innovation cycle from funding to scaling. For more information, visit www.civitta.com