EIT Health, GE Healthcare and MIT join forces to make Catalyst Europe permanent

MIT together with EIT Health, GE Healthcare and other partners, has successfully launched a health research framework programme “Catalyst”.

The Catalyst is a unique methodology developed by The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to increase the potential that biomedical research will lead to products that address unmet healthcare needs. This research framework has started to be rolled out in Europe with financial support of EIT Health within the EIT Health Campus programmes and engaged already EIT Health Partners located in Hungary, Erlangen and Madrid. The main aim was to scale out the Catalyst methodology among European leading universities so that they could become more efficient in the translation of their biomedical research.

Thanks to the strong leading role of GE Healthcare Hungary, the roll-out of the Catalyst programme in this part of the world was possible. Together with the University of Debrecen, which joined EIT Health network in 2020, University of Debrecen will play a leading role in the European adoption of the MIT Catalyst methodology. The agreement concerns the joint research and training development with a focus on digital medicine and artificial intelligence, among others. The Hungarian Ministry of Innovation and Technology took patronage over the venture as well.

One-of-a-kind 6-month fellowship programme

Between May and November 2020 at the University of Debrecen, three chosen young innovators will work through the Catalyst process to find solutions that improve patient outcomes by addressing the identified Focus Areas, such as access to healthcare services and healthcare management. This is an example of an immersive programme, where participants adopt new innovation skills while working on real challenges. The fellows will learn how to identify and evaluate unmet medical needs, build multi-professional teams, and engage with stakeholders from around the world. Additionally, the programme can produce a set of project opportunities with high translational potential which can be scaled up to the market in the following stages. During the programme, the University of Debrecen cooperates with two other universities: the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität in Erlangen and UPM in Madrid. The possible roll-out in other EIT Health RIS regions is currently being discussed.