10 new start-ups focus on health technologies to improve health care systems and transform people’s lives – Info Innovation

Digital health start-ups from across Ireland and Europe will today embark on a brand new European incubator programme at Trinity College Dublin which aims to identify new technologies that promote healthy living, support active ageing and improve health care systems.

The 2018 teams are made up of health and science researchers, medical professionals, software engineers, digital innovators, pharma specialists, medical device experts and business developers. To gain entry to the programme all 10 teams had to prove that their venture had a defensible technology with a measurable health benefit to society that can be delivered within a realistic time frame.

Fionnuala Healy added: “Trinity College Dublin 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 new health tech incubator. The first of its kind in Ireland, the EIT Health Validator programme is seeking to identify new technologies that promote healthy living, support active ageing and improve health care systems. Here at Trinity we are very proud of our standing as the number one university in Europe for producing entrepreneurial graduates and we're looking forward to working with these high calibre teams over the coming weeks to help them validate their business idea and identify markets.”
Among the teams participating in the 2018 programme are BrainyApp which has developed the Fatigue Friend app to help prevent full-blown episodes of chronic fatigue through a series of early warning alerts; Praxagoras which is developing an easy to use, monitoring system to help GPs prevent stroke by the early detection of Atrial Fibrillation; and Pinpoint Innovations which has developed a wearable tracking device which monitors the amount of time patients spend in each stage of their care in the hospital setting.

Speaking at the launch of EIT Health Validator in the Innovation Academy, Professor Martin Curley, CIO, Health Service Executive and CEO eHealth Ireland, said: “We are delighted to support the new digital health accelerator programme EIT Health Validator, which will run over the next two months at Trinity College Dublin. There is a need globally to focus on technologies and innovations that can keep healthy people well, enhance quality of care and quality of life at the most efficient cost. It is exciting to see and learn about the new technologies that have been developed by these exciting new European start-ups to improve healthcare systems across the world.”

The 2018 EIT Health Validator teams are:
Adamant (Finland) has developed a wearable smart sensor to improve our understanding of Parkinson's disease. Its NeuroTracking system measures electricity muscle activity (EMG) and human motion to assess a patient's condition and the effects of treatment such as drug therapy and deep brain stimulation.
Avalanche (Germany) has developed a 3D recognition system to replace manual documentation of medical implants used in surgery to improve the existing protocol for re-ordering used parts, which is complex, error-prone and can cause delays. The team has developed a 3D scanner, which recognises implants deployed in the sterile operating theatre, and links to specialist software on a mobile device.
BrainyApp (Ireland) has developed the ‘Fatigue Friend' app which prevents full blown episodes of chronic fatigue through a series of alerts based on early warning stages of fatigue. Using this platform, a person can control their fatigue more effectively by managing their energy levels over a 24- hour period, significantly improving their quality of life.