Distrito e-Health, the open innovation program in digital health, promoted by Distrito Digital Comunitat Valenciana and developed by Innsomnia, has shortlisted the 12 candidate startups to integrate its solutions in the Valencian Health System during its Demo Day. An appointment in which he has once again highlighted the enormous impact that a collaborative ecosystem can deploy in the health field, through the connection between emerging companies and technological SMEs with the network of public hospitals, health centers, universities, pharmaceutical laboratories and insurers.
The Demo Day became the showcase in which the finalist candidates presented their digital health solutions through two blocks of pitch, carried out before the evaluation committee of the program made up of experts in the field of health and innovation, such as Enrique Soler, deputy director general of Integrated Assistance Activity of the Ministry of Universal Health and Public Health, Enrique Bausá, deputy director general of Information Systems for the Health, the Digital District technical team and the Innsomnia team. After this last selection, a total of between three and five startups will access the project co-development phase, together with public health entities and corporations specialized in the pharmaceutical and socio-health sector.
Participation: 118 startups and 15 countries
The presentation of the finalist projects concludes after a resounding success in the open call phase launched in December 2021, which received applications from 118 startups from 15 different countries, with a significant number of initiatives from Finland and Germany. All the technological solutions presented, 35% of which have had international origin, they have responded to the challenges set by Valencian health for five areas considered strategic: Improvement of primary care; Sanitary prevention; Vulnerable groups; Digital transformation and improvement of the patient experience.
The startups that have been able to exhibit their innovation projects in digital health in this Demo Day have been: Medixine, Mediktor, Tucuvi, Eniax, Inycom, Immersive Rehab, Deepeye, Legit Health, Tic4Care, Hearts Radiant, Inuba, and Statsex. Of all of them, during the month of April the selected ones will be announced.
Antonio Rodes, general director of SPTCV and CEO of Distrito Digital, has highlighted the success of the open innovation programs promoted by the Generalitat Valenciana to promote centers of technological entrepreneurship throughout the Community. Specifically, regarding E-Health, he has stressed that his objective has been: “contribute to the efficiency of the health system, the importance of the public-private collaboration model and provide solutions that, in addition to being innovative, are sustainable from an economic point of view”.
Disruptive technology at the service of public health
The broad response of national and international startups to the call for the e-Health District has made it possible to assess a wide variety of technological solutions, whose common denominator has been its adaptation and complementary use to improve patient care. Thus, the evaluation committee has examined projects based on the creation of deep learning systems to help treat eye diseases, Artificial Intelligence platforms to monitor patients in their own homes or virtual reality systems for neurorehabilitation therapies , among others.
“It has been especially interesting to see how startups have presented transversal digital solutions, capable of having a positive impact on different areas of public health. The proposed projects are more than a technology adapted to a specific aspect of hospital management: they are authentic lines of action designed to help all health professionals and improve the treatment and quality of life of patients”has highlighted Fran Estevan, CEO of Innsomnia.
