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10 start-ups progress to finals of EIT Health's neurotechprize

10 start-ups progress to finals of EIT Health's neurotechprize

After pre-selection by the jury, ten start-ups have been selected to progress to the finals of neurotechprize, run by EIT Health and Biogen.

These promising start-ups from across Europe and beyond, will now take the next step in the search for technological innovations for the diagnosis and care of Alzheimer’s patients.

As populations continue to age rapidly, Alzheimer’s disease has become one of the most pressing health concerns of the 21st century and is now regarded as a public health crisis. EIT Health and Biogen are searching for simple tech to deep tech solutions that can help improve the quality of life for those impacted by Alzheimer’s disease.

The jury selected the finalists by assessing their proposed solutions against the following criteria:

  • Accelerating the diagnostic pathway: Helping provide tools that shorten the time-consuming diagnostic pathway.
  • Improving disease monitoring: Putting forward a solution to measure and analyse meaningful data that reflects the patients’ individual disease progression.
  • Easing burden on patients: Bringing a patient-centred solution easing the burden for patients during the complex diagnosis and therapy pathway.
  • Maintaining quality of life: For Alzheimer’s patients and their families, it is crucial to maintain their quality of life while living with the disease. Also, behavioural disturbances related to Alzheimer’s (apathy, depression, anxiety, insomnia, etc.) pose an enormous challenge.

Starting next week, expert business and science mentors will begin a three-month intensive coaching programme with the selected start-ups, preparing them for the finals this summer. In the finals, most innovative projects can earn prizes of EUR100k for the winning solution and EUR50k for the runner-up.

Meet the finalists

  • AgenT, France: Develops an accurate blood diagnosis and the next generation of precision therapies to treat Alzheimer’s from the asymptomatic stage.
  • Brain+, Denmark: Provides content and support for caregivers to carry out cognitive stimulation therapy (a validated psycho-social treatment of people with dementia) at home, to help maintain quality of life patients.
  • Ceresti Health, United States: Provides virtual care for patients with neurodegenerative disease who require high levels of family caregiver support, through a digital health programme.
  • Combinostics Oy, Finland: A solution to diagnose people with memory problems based on a combination of a digital cognitive test, automated quantification of brain scans, and a machine learning clinical decision support system.
  • Five Lives, France: A mobile app that empowers users over 50 to track their brain health via clinically validated risk assessment and to reduce their individual risk of future dementia through lifestyle improvement.
  • ichó systems, Germany: The ichó therapy device playfully trains the cognition and motor skills of people with dementia to improve quality of life not only of the patient, but also of the caregiver.
  • Neurocast, Netherlands: A passive patient monitoring solution which turns everyday daily digital interactions, such as smartphone use, into medically approved outcomes, enabling individual patients’ performance monitoring in everyday life.
  • nQ Medical, United States: Medical device software providing a digital biomarker for cognition disorders. Through AI-aided analysis of personal device interactions, it passively collects and analyses data on how people interact with their personal devices from home.
  • OptiChroniX, Switzerland: A prescribed digital therapeutic for patients, providing personalised interventions through an AI-powered coach adapted to elderly people with cognitive disabilities.
  • PeakProfiling, Germany: Applies hypothesis-driven and exploratory voice analysis to detect diseases such as dementia, ADHD, and depression. Their solution uses quantitative musicology, combined with AI.

Learn more about the neurotechprize