Newlife is an ambitious KDT JU project aiming to secure the health of mothers and their babies by developing novel holistic monitoring solutions.
In Europe, about five million infants are born every year and of these, up to 10% are born pre-term, presenting a severe cost burden to health care. This burden is not only due to immediate short-term costs of intensive neonatal care, but more importantly, due to long-term adverse effects and complications. Many pre-term births could be prevented with careful pregnancy monitoring and early prediction and detection of risks and complications using digital technologies. Newlife is set to solve this challenge when life is at its most vulnerable phase.
Newlife is a three-year project consisting of a large consortium of 25 partners from 6 different European countries. There are eight research & technology organisations, thirteen small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and four large corporations from Finland, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland. The partners representing the consortium are gaining from the expertise of each of its members to create a cluster whose synergy accelerates innovation, ultimately benefitting the health of mothers and babies around the world.
The Newlife project aims to develop innovative, non-invasive technologies for gathering vital data on mothers and babies, and build cloud-based solutions for their presentation, securing life in its most vulnerable phase. The ambitious project develops digital healthcare solutions for remote screening and early detection of pregnancy risk factors, with an aim to bring digital revolution to paediatric and obstetric care. Digital health ecosystems, focused on digital platforms, health monitoring wearables and devices, applications, and services, will empower individuals to improve their health and medical professionals to take preventive actions. The technologies and solutions developed are demonstrated in five use cases for both hospitals and personalised monitoring in-home environments. Switzerland is represented in Newlife by eight partners, among them MOMM Diagnostics and Inselspital Bern, the latter of which will be further elaborated on.
First, MOMM Diagnostics, a Swiss start-up and project partner of Newlife is developing a vitro diagnostic test for pre-eclampsia. Pre-eclampsia is a pregnancy complication characterised by high blood pressure and signs of damage to other organ systems that can lead to serious complications for both the mother and the baby if left untreated. While pre-eclampsia is currently tested via a blood sample sent to a central laboratory, with MOMM Diagnostic’s test, testing can be done directly in the doctor’s office during a pregnancy check-up and delivers results within minutes. This innovative approach allows healthcare professionals to make informed decisions, lowers the mental burden for pregnant women and is beneficial in areas or countries where medical infrastructure and central labs are much less dense. An expansive European consortium offers MOMM Diagnostics a substantial opportunity to engage with a diverse range of experts across various fields, including clinicians, tech innovators, established market players, and seasoned regulatory experts. Furthermore, the financial backing from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) and Innosuisse has been instrumental in their endeavours as well. Switzerland’s robust connectivity extends to European R&D partners, facilitating the sharing of infrastructure, expertise, and know-how. Notably excelling in Medtech, Switzerland boasts significant advancements in this field.
Second, Inselspital Bern, specifically the Department of Obstetrics, takes on a clinical role, encompassing the clinical testing of the non-invasive, remote foetal monitoring devices that are currently being developed within the Newlife project. Dr. med. Anda-Petronela Radan, medical specialist in Gynecology and Obstetrics at Inselspital Bern and part of the Newlife consortium states that “nowadays research, in my opinion, cannot be done as a one-man show anymore or not at this level”. For them, the European consortium is very advantageous as they can exchange with colleagues and experts and see how they work, get to know more about their practices and guidelines and be inspired by them not only for the research project but also for daily clinical questions. In turn, Switzerland and the Inselspital Bern can offer medical knowledge and expertise. Next steps for Dr. med. Anda-Petronela Randan and her team include the testing of non-functional prototypes at Inselspital Bern that they receive from their technology partners within Newlife.