Fifteen digital health startups from across Europe embark on a bespoke incubator programme organised by Tangent, Trinity’s Ideas Workspace at Trinity College Dublin, which aims to identify and develop new technologies promoting healthy living, active ageing and innovative healthcare systems.
Backed by the European Union, EIT Health (network of best-in-class health innovators) and Trinity, the programme will help nascent healthcare ventures create lasting improvements to health throughout Ireland, Europe and the wider world.
Tangent’s Validator Accelerator delivers the first stage in intensive growth for many start-ups. Participating teams and innovators will gain the tools to validate and incubate their business ideas while preparing for launch across Europe.
Getting digital health solutions off the ground
They will also build connections with Tangent’s established community of investors and mentors, helping to get their digital health solutions off the ground and into the market.
Participants have the chance to rigorously test their business concepts via partner test beds within the integrated digital health eco-system. And with access to expert mentors and training sessions, boot camps will take the start-ups from initial ideation all the way through to launch.
Specifically, participants will gain the chance to: validate the technology and market potential of their early-stage businesses; visit a number of high-impact health tech hubs in Europe to learn about local health systems and ecosystems; engage with Tallaght and St James’s hospitals for focus group sessions; gain knowledge of the common pitfalls of early health start-ups, and how to avoid them.
Chief executive officer at Tangent, Trinity’s Ideas Workspace, Ken Finnegan, said: "Tangent is delighted to be working in partnership with the EU’s European Institute of Technology to welcome digital health entrepreneurs from across Europe to participate in this year’s digital health tech incubator in Dublin.
"The EIT Health Validator programme supports the development of innovative new technologies that promote healthy living, support active ageing and improve healthcare systems which will have a real impact on our society.
"Trinity is an international leader for producing entrepreneurial graduates, and we are looking forward to working closing with these high-calibre teams to help them validate their new business idea and identify markets."
The 2019 Validator teams
Wellola: B2B, white-labelled software revolutionises the way hospitals and community-based clinics care for and communicate with their patients, who can manage appointments, access a library of educational materials or securely receive real-time care via messaging and video consultation within a complimentary patient-facing app.
Thermoscan: An app designed to facilitate breast cancer examination with thermal imaging technology. Using AI to correlate symptoms and cancer risk thermal patterns, the aim is to get the right diagnosis, faster than ever before.
Healthinn (INNOVAHEALTH SL). Rehand: A first digital solution for hand, wrist and finger rehabilitation through Tablet devices. Based on the most updated scientific evidence, patients can perform their exercise programmes touching the tablet’s screen and their doctors can monitor progress through a tracking system.
InjurySense: A wearable device providing muscle injury prediction in real time using wireless sensors and a mobile app. This device is for athletes, coaches and physios. It is predictive, easy to use and convenient.
Fisiolink Srls: A web platform that connects physiotherapists with patients to ease the management of their workflow and support the rehab process with digital interaction. Physiotherapists can assign personalised exercise programmes and receive feedback from patients through an open system allowing customisation, interoperability, and scalability.
Kids Speech Labs: The team wants to help parents understand if their child’s speech and language development is on track and gives them the tools they need to help their child in the early stages of development. The digital health platform uses data and AI to deliver new assessment and intervention tools.
Zendra Health: A Dublin-based digital health company whose aim is to improve people’s lives and accelerate research into chronic conditions via technology. They have developed a platform that enables healthcare professionals to build evidence-based digital health solutions at an 80 per cent reduction in both cost and time-to-market.
Peer: The company mission is to create a user-driven reading and learning solution for people with dyslexia and other print-based disabilities, to empower people by removing stress and anxiety, and to allow the user to focus on content and comprehension. This promotes independence so they may succeed in the modern educational environment.
TechApps Healthier: A Greek start-up operating within the e-health sector, specialising in applications directed to the end-user/patient and health data analytics. Healthier is a smart, mobile personal health management assistant that empowers its users to monitor and manage their health in an easy and effective way, while they receive personalised, actionable insights and tips about their health.
Hearable Labs: Makes the building blocks for hearable devices, allowing headphone, hearable and VR/AR companies to easily integrate augmented hearing functionality into their devices.
Apprise Medical: Offers a quick and easy way for doctors and nurses to access learning using AI and machine learning. The company provides access to clinical scenarios that prepare healthcare professionals for the clinical challenges they encounter when seeing patients. Accessible on any mobile or desktop device, the scenarios require no learning curve, and the clinicians benefit from user-friendly and interactive learning.
Nursebeam: A virtual triage nurse for travel insurers, to help their sick policyholders via chatbot. It helps insurers to reduce claim pay-outs while providing instant access to healthcare for travellers.
Photoblue: SnapGP is a unique clinical photography solution in healthcare. Clinical photographs are widely used in an ad hoc way by primary care doctors and nurses everywhere. There are issues with consent, data protection, and secure image transfer. Snap GP is a mobile app that allows the user to take and send a clinical image securely. It goes straight to the intended recipient, and is not stored either on the phone or in the cloud.
Rollweigh: A rollable mat that weighs the immobile person. It is a Class 1m medical device, and provides trending information and alerts to healthcare professionals via smart phone. Currently, there is no convenient, dignified or affordable way to weigh an immobile person. Weight monitoring is vital for a person’s health.
Eiligo Shower: The Swiss Army Knife of showering. Eiligo Shower supports independent living for elderly and infirm people with a smart shower system – integrating safety, sustainability, style and smart technology.