Start-ups return to Medica in search of business contacts

For years, the medical trade fair Medica in Düsseldorf has also been an event for start-ups wishing to enter the healthcare sector. MEDICA 2023 and the parallel suppliers’ professional trade fair COMPAMED 2023 will feature several hundred young developer teams from among the more than 5,000 exhibiting companies looking for business contacts for cooperation related to funding, production, product approval, marketing or sales of their product ideas. Looking for

Several event highlights have a targeted focus on the start-up landscape and provide an ideal platform for start-ups to present their solutions and do business with the international world of professional healthcare. Those worthy of mention include 12th Medica Start-up Competition, 15th Healthcare Innovation World Cup, Medica Start-up Park and Medica Connected Healthcare Forum among many other start-up exhibitions.

For both the 12th Medica Start-up Competition and the 15th Healthcare Innovation World Cup, the registration process has already started. Interested start-ups will find information about the rules and options for participating in the competition on the program page of the Medica Connected Healthcare Forum.

The Medica Start-Up Competition focuses on the entire spectrum of innovations for the healthcare sector: from artificial intelligence (AI) to health apps, solutions for laboratory diagnostics and medical robotics. For the first time this year, “Sustainability” is featured as a new category.

Last year’s winning team benefits from global exposure

Spanish start-up IdoVen was the winning team in the 2022 competition and has since profited significantly from participating in the event. The young company has developed an AI-based platform for, in its words, “Cardiology-as-a-Service”. This proprietary AI uses electrocardiographs (ECGs) of any length and any diagnostic device to improve the accuracy and consistency of interpretation.

Rica Cristanto, COO, IdoVen, is pleased to attend Medica and the impact of the competition finalists on the stage of the Medica Connected Healthcare Forum: “I was very surprised to see how global this trade fair is!”

According to Rica Cristanto, it was also helpful to share experiences with other start-ups during Medica, for example how to overcome legal barriers to enter the market. Currently, Idoven Medica is consolidating partnerships that are due out to 2022, for example with the company GE Healthcare in connection with a project to reduce the effort needed to interpret ECGs in a clinical setting. “We have also signed an agreement with AstraZeneca regarding the heart insufficiency project,” says Rica Cristanto.

It is mainly concerned with saving the affected persons from hospitalization. Therefore, together with the pharmaceutical company, the start-up is working on solutions to improve personalized therapies. To do this, IdoVen’s analytical platform uses preliminary data from patient records to estimate the effectiveness of planned treatments and the need for changes.

To continue this growth course, Idoven is looking forward to further partnerships while working intensively on evaluating the performance of their proprietary AI tools and the utility of their solutions in clinical practice. How important global visibility is for a start-up, and thus participation in trade fair events such as Medica, is illustrated by, for example, this figure: IDOVEN has already received financial support of almost US$20 million (around 18.1 million Euros). has managed to achieve. For the realization of upcoming projects and further development.

Healthcare Innovation World Cup: The next generation of intelligent medtech devices

For start-ups, scale-ups and small mid-scale companies, participation (and free application) in the 15th Healthcare Innovation World Cup may also be of interest. The focus here is on intelligent “Internet of Medical Things” (IoMT) solutions, eg, digital biomarkers, smart band-aids or wearable devices with network connectivity. The 12 finalists, selected by a renowned professional jury, are invited to present their businesses during MEDICA 2023 on the event stage of the MEDICA Connected Healthcare Forum (in Hall 12).

Last year’s winner was Viewmind, a company specializing in the management of neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis or Alzheimer’s. Mark Edwards, CEO and co-founder of Viewmind, says that although the effects of the win cannot be quantified, “I can say that the win was very helpful in making the company and its products famous”. The start-up has also completed another round of funding. The already CE-certified ViewMind product, which is already on the market, was validated in approx. 30 clinical trials on four continents with thousands of patients. Approval by the FDA is currently ongoing.

Viewmind initially addresses the pharmaceutical industry, says Mark Edwards, but also addresses the healthcare sector in general. “We are working with several pharmaceutical companies on clinical trials to give them a tool with which to find suitable participants, accurately establish groups and measure therapy effects with relative sensitivity Could.”

Edwards has been frequently visiting Medica in Dusseldorf. From his point of view, the size of the event is an advantage. He has already met with several contacts in the sales sector here to assess potential sales partnerships. ViewMind has its eyes on the prize, as Mark Edwards says: “We want to establish a sensitive marker for neurocognitive diseases and cognition that is easy to operate and can be used as a tool to measure blood pressure or blood glucose.” be useful to me.”

Rendezvous in Medica Start-up Pack

The Medica Start-up Pack (in Hall 12) also places an emphasis on networking and has established itself as a central meeting point for the start-up scene. Already 40 start-ups have been registered in the opening phase this year – a new record.

Ukraine’s start-up initiative “Up to Future” will take place for the second time. In 2022, registration could happen shortly before the trade fair itself. Ukrainian start-ups promoted by this initiative included HandyUsound with their product idea for a portable ultrasound system. The product received such a good response from trade fair visitors that the founding team is looking to use the opportunity again this year to make further business contacts.

Korea’s Megnosis is also participating in the Medica start-up pack this year. The company has developed an EEG helmet that aims to detect dementia at an early stage and ameliorate the effects through stimulation of brain cells and neurons.

Germany is also represented in the joint stand. One example is AssistMe. For Medica 2023, they will introduce a smart sensor system for use in underwear for incontinence. This system serves as a kind of indicator for liquids. Through a clip attached to the incontinence aid, the retrieved data is transmitted to a software cloud system. In this way, nursing staff in an institutional setting can better care for residents according to their needs, because at a glance in a central location, staff can determine when it seems necessary to replace a person’s incontinence aid.