EIT Health names winners of longevity competition
EIT Health, together with seven global collaborators representing nearly 50 countries and territories, announced the winners of the inaugural round of Healthy Longevity Catalyst Awards.
The awards are part of the Healthy Longevity Global Competition, a multiyear, multimillion-dollar international competition seeking breakthrough innovations to extend human health and function later in life.
The Catalyst Phase calls on teams and individuals from any background – from science, medicine, and health to technology, finance, social sciences, and beyond – to submit innovative ideas with the goal of extending the human healthspan. Applications are judged primarily on novelty and innovation.
The U.S. National Academy of Medicine founded the competition and coordinates among the seven global collaborators, each administering a competition in their respective country or region. EIT Health administered the contest through the EIT Health Headstart Programme.
Read more about EIT Health and its programmes
More than 400 innovators submitted applications in Round 1. Twenty-one of them were chosen by EIT Health Headstart for a Catalyst Award and each received up to EUR 50 000 as seed funding to advance their products/services.
Awardees will be invited to attend the first annual Innovator Summit in Washington, D.C., in September 2021 to share their work with policymakers, researchers, potential investors, and fellow innovators from around the world.
The competition consists of two additional phases internationally:
- Accelerator Phase: Awards worth USD 300 000 to USD 1 million or more will be issued to meritorious Catalyst awardees who have demonstrated significant progress, to support the further advancement of their bold ideas (starting in 2021).
- Grand Prize: One or more grand prizes of up to USD 5 million will be awarded for achievement of a breakthrough innovation that extends the human healthspan (starting in 2023).
The EIT Health Headstart Catalyst Award winners:
Bioadhesive Ophthalmics SAS (France): transforms ophthalmology by improving the efficacy and potency of eye medications. Their innovation is a Mucoadhesive Ocular Hydrogel Insert that releases drugs over a one-week period, enhancing the impact of treatment.
BOCAhealthcare GmbH (Germany): develops new ideas in the field of digital healthcare with specific regards to the management of the human body fluids – improving the patient’s journey from hospital to home and providing doctors with a solution that can help in their everyday clinical decisions.
Byteflies NV (Belgium): allows remote, continuous and user-friendly monitoring of COVID-19 key indicators, including cardiac and respiratory parameters, while providing medical insights to clinicians.
CrannMed Limited (Ireland): aims to eliminate chronic pain, restore mobility and stop disease progression for patients with knee osteoarthritis. Their solution provides an alternative treatment for this debilitating disease through development of bioresorbable embolic particles and a balloon occlusion microcatheter.
EPCON bvba (Belgium): quantifies risks of COVID-19 transmission at the sub-national and population level, and generates timely, actionable, and spatially aware output for stakeholders in the programme, including the patients.
Foren Project S.L. (Spain): offers a therapeutic tool for the treatment of motor injuries in stroke patients using the technologies of virtual reality, electrostimulation, and AI. Foren’s objective is to disrupt the stroke rehabilitation landscape by offering a unique multimodal product designed to accelerate recovery periods and reduce healthcare costs.
Friends Media Group Katarzyna Zimoląg (Poland): supports the family in the coordinated medical, social, and psychological care of a palliative patient. The easy-to-use mobile app provides real-time patient information and handy tools for caregivers to reduce stress, avoid errors, and free up more time to deliver care.
GRAPHEAL (France): focuses on a wearable technology to monitor healing and improve the treatment of chronic wounds that require long-term care. Combining novel electronic materials, embedded wireless electronics, software data analysis and medical cloud technologies, the solution aims to avoid amputations.
IDOVEN 1903 (Spain): offers a cloud-based software using AI for electrocardiograms analysis and a wearable. The system makes it possible to detect and classify arrhythmias at a cardiologist level, remotely and in real time.
iuvando Health GmbH (Germany): empowers patients with different types of cancer to unlock new treatment pathways by providing guidance in searching for clinical trials in precision oncology.
KroniKare Limited (UK): uses a hand-held device and an AI-based system for assessment and management of chronic wounds. The evidence-based solution automates the process of assessing and caring for the wound.
Lifebloom (France): provides a sustainable model of autonomous walking and augmented rehabilitation that puts patients in charge of their lives. The solution is designed to replace the current model of wheelchair placement, dependency, and frailty due to inactivity and saturated care.
Lorton Investments Sp. z o.o. (Poland): produces SenceBand, a wearable for electrocardiography (ECG) sensor using one wrist only. It is compliant to the International Standards of Measurement, Physiological Interpretation, and Clinical Use to constantly track the state of the autonomic nervous system.
MiWEndo Solutions S.L (Spain): produces MiWEndo, an accessory that attaches to the tip of a colonoscope to improve colonoscopy detection using microwaves. MiWEndo increases the field of view to 360 degrees and automates the detection of polyps by emitting an alarm to warn the endoscopist. It also allows the endoscopist to differentiate malignant and benign polyps.
Mysurable LTD (Italy): produces mioTest®, a comprehensive, portable, and automated system to evaluate muscular performance to diagnose sarcopenia, a syndrome characterised by the loss of muscle mass. Along with diagnosing the problem, the solution can suggest personalised treatment options.
NaviBlind IVS (Denmark): enables blind and visually disabled people to easily walk from A to B on their own without the aid of a sighted instructor. The service is delivered through a GPS accessory and a mobile app, which guides the user to their destination.
Praxis Medical Devices Ltd (Ireland): develops CapBuster, a revolutionary new medical device designed to penetrate completely blocked arteries. The solution incorporates engineering intelligence at a nano level that has never been used before in angioplasty. It comprises a guidewire and balloon catheter combination device, with the addition of unique patented screw-thread technology.
RAMPmedical (Germany): offers an evidence and AI-based decision-support software for therapy that brings scientific research results into medical practice to assist clinicians and improve patient quality of life.
SYNCSENSE ApS (Denmark): develops the next generation of virtual reality therapeutics. Exercises guided with virtual reality enable caregivers to deliver personalised treatment and empower patients to take control of their age- and inactivity-related diseases.
VulCur MedTech ApS (Denmark): develops an advanced laser technology for killing bacteria in chronic wounds to prevent amputations in elderly and diabetic patients.
Wolk BV (The Netherlands): produces a lightweight, wearable hip airbag that combines state-of-the-art sensors and fall detection algorithms to protect elderly people from hip fractures when falling. Like the airbag in a car, it inflates to prevent hard impact when the wearer falls.
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