EIT Health will fund six start-ups to coordinate with biobanks and sample holders to access data and develop innovative health solutions.
On 10 September, the Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) Health of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) chose six start-ups to fund under the EIT Health Digital Sandbox programme. The Digital Sandbox is an accelerator that helps start-ups in the areas of medtech, biotech and digital health to access data through European biobanks, quality registers and sample holders. The programme is run out of EIT Health Scandinavia, and it is the second consecutive year start-ups were selected to share a total amount of €180’000 for establishing connections with biobanks and registers and boosting innovation in health. To address current health-challenges better, the access to highly specific data is vital, and EIT Health helps the start-ups in finding registers and sample holders that fit their needs, advises on different national regulations concerning data and registries, and provides funding to better access and process health data. The Digital Sandbox works in concert with the EIT Health RABBIT strategic initiative (Registries and Biobanks in Transition), which aims to promote the use of public biobanks and registries.
The candidate start-ups have to present an innovative solution in health, under one of the three components of the EIT Health mission: Healthy Living, Active Ageing, or Improved Health Care. This year’s selected start-ups are: Amadix (Spain) and BeFC (France) in biotech, Acobiom (France) and GlyCardial Diagnostics (Spain) in medtech, and Healthinn:Rehand (Spain) and Radiobotics (Denmark) in digital health. They cover different challenges, from improving diagnostics over post-surgery rehabilitation to facilitating analysis of X-rays. Via the RABBIT strategic initiative, The EIT Healthplans to expand the Digital Sandbox programme to include more biobanks and registries all over Europe in the future.
In parallel with the Digital Sandbox programme, innovative health solutions have also been brainstormed through the EIT Crisis Response Initiative. This initiative has mobilised €60 mio. to fund innovators tackling different problems triggered by the current Covid-19 crisis. The programme rests on two pillars: a Venture Support Instrument, providing highly innovative, but struggling start-ups and SMEs with the necessary funding to weather the crisis, and a programme for Pandemic Response Projects, where innovators directly address the impact of Covid-19 in different sectors. On 8 September 2020, the EIT announced that the funding would go to 207 innovation projects from 32 countries, including Switzerland, where start-ups such as hemotune AG and Volumina Medical were able to receive funding through the Venture Support Instrument. EIT Health is one of the EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) most involved in the Covid-19 crisis response, and brings together approximately 150 leaders in healthcare from multiple sectors. Swiss stakeholders from the EIT Health community such as ETH Zurich, EPFL or Roche have been directly involved in finding solutions to the current crisis.