EIT Health: Empowering innovators from ideas to impact

In recent years, Europe has become one of the most dynamic regions for entrepreneurial start-ups, with tech hubs rapidly developing across the continent. According to a report by the UK Business Angels Association (UKBAA) in H1 2024 “European startups attracted a total investment of €47.3 billion, a figure that includes €18.7 billion in debt funding.”[1]

Driving this growth is the support of governments and the European Union (EU) and various funding initiatives, such as Horizon Europe, the EU’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is an integral part of Horizon Europe, whose mission is to create jobs and deliver sustainable and smart growth. EIT works to bring together organisations across business, education and research with a goal to find and commercialise solutions to pressing global challenges, and for each challenge there is an ecosystem of partnerships called Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), of which EIT Health is one. Additionally, the rise of accelerators and incubators across the continent has given entrepreneurs access to mentorship, networking, and early-stage investment, helping transform ideas into scalable businesses.

Current challenges facing European entrepreneurs

The European entrepreneurial landscape is thriving but Europe, despite open markets, is still a collection of different countries with their own languages, cultures, and governments. And this fragmented ecosystem is an additional factor that entrepreneurs need to manoeuvre, on top of the three main challenges they face when it comes to growing and scaling their ventures:

• Regulations

Navigating the complex regulatory environment is challenging enough in unified ecosystems, such as the United States, but Europe’s stricter and fragmented regulatory frameworks across the region complicates the scale-up process and creates additional administrative costs and burdens for aspiring entrepreneurs.

• Funding

Venture Capital (VC) activity has grown significantly in Europe over the years, but many early-stage start-ups still struggle to secure the necessary financial backing to move from concept to market, especially those based outside Europe’s major tech hubs, such as Wroclaw, Barcelona, Munich, etc. Additionally, start-ups in smaller, less economically developed regions find it even harder due to uneven distribution of funding across the region.

• Talent

Despite Europe’s strong educational systems, there is a talent shortage, especially in key areas such as software development, data science, and AI, and ongoing issues with diversity. And with strong competition for tech talent, many professionals opt for established tech firms or move to more dynamic ecosystems.

There is also an issue when it comes to scaling-up, with many European start-ups, even successful ones, struggling to break into international markets.

 

EIT Health’s role in the entrepreneurial journey

EIT Health is a vast, vibrant community of world-leading health innovators backed by the EU supporting innovators at every stage, from students with bold ideas to start-ups ready to scale. Its extensive network, funding opportunities, and expert guidance empower entrepreneurs to overcome challenges and achieve success.

Healthcare students and professionals

At the beginning of the entrepreneurial journey, EIT Health provides a wide range of resources designed to help healthcare students and professionals boost their knowledge and skills in healthcare innovation.

Our programmes, co-created with the biggest universities and industry players in Europe, offer a range of courses focused on the latest trends in healthcare. Most of them grant the EIT Label certification, a guarantee that the educational journey will be enriched with hands-on experiences across Europe.

Our Certified Innovation Paths offered through our digital learning platform, EIT Health Academy give students and healthcare professionals the opportunity to personalise their learning journey as they master the fusion of healthcare insights, entrepreneurship and leadership skills with the latest industry trends.

Start-ups and innovators

Once a concept moves to the start-up phase, EIT Health provides more targeted support that focuses on building a sustainable business model and launching into the market. Current start-up programmes include:

Catapult

EIT Health Catapult is a unique competition and training programme that fast-tracks Europe’s best life sciences and health tech start-ups and showcases them to leading experts and investors across Europe.

Throughout the programme, start-ups receive intensive training in business modelling and planning, investment deal negotiation, and pitch preparation as they build their credibility and visibility through pan-European exposure, before pitching their service or product to international investors and world-leading companies. For investors, this means access to professionally prepared business cases from companies that have been de-risked.

Bootcamps

EIT Health Bootcamps give start-ups the chance to explore their full market potential and connect with a network of fellow entrepreneurs and innovators across Europe. Selected start-ups analyse the competition, identify their USPs and engage with target customers to take their business to the next level. 2024 bootcamps included:

• Women Entrepreneurship: a 5-week online programme tailored for women-led and co-led start-ups
• MedTech: Focused support and personalised matchmaking for early phase start-ups in medical technology or digital health to turn ideas into reality
• Patient Innovation: A bootcamp to empower those living with, or caring for people with, health conditions, to turn their innovative ideas into solutions that address the challenges posed by the condition
• Regulatory Pathways to Market: A 10-week transformative programme tailored to delve into the pathways of the European healthcare system and identify viable reimbursement pathways

Fast-Track

Under the Fast Track, 10 selected EIT Health-portfolio start-ups are given the opportunity to receive mentoring support from our experts and the opportunity to proceed directly to Step 2 of the EIC Accelerator application process, which is a funding programme under Horizon Europe that offers support to start-ups and SMEs. The selected start-ups will also receive guidance on programmes and opportunities that EIT Health offers, which can help them to scale, attract private investors, and evolve towards unique ready to invest projects.

Scale-ups

Scaling a business requires access to new markets, additional talent, and expanded infrastructure, and EIT Health helps entrepreneurs tackle these challenges by providing extensive support to ensure their successful transition from local players to international contenders. Programmes include:

DiGinnovation

EIT Health’s DiGinnovation Programme selects the top digital health micro and small enterprises as part of a consortium that will improve healthcare systems by accelerating the uptake of digital medical devices by healthcare professionals and patients and expediting market launch of the innovation while easing the reimbursement process.

The entrepreneur’s journey with EIT Health

Follow the transformative journey of four entrepreneurs, who, at different stages of their careers were catalysed by EIT Health; beginning as students, evolving into start-up founders, and eventually scaling their business.

The common thread throughout their story is the invaluable support they received from EIT Health to turn their visions into impactful health solutions:

Healthcare students and professionals: Mateusz Dworak and Martyna Jakubowska (Diabetic Foot Care)

While debating healthcare issues with young doctors and the Ministry of Health in Poland, Mateusz realised how challenging it was to drive change within the system. Inspired by an EIT Health Summit ad on creating change as an entrepreneur, he pursued that path, and joined our 2023 Digital Medical Devices summer school, where he met Martyna Jakubowska. Inspired by her vision, he joined the Diabetic Foot Care team to support the development of the AutoCast system. Their mission – to improve the treatment of diabetic foot patients and reduce the number of amputations caused by diabetes. Learn more.

Start-Up: Bárbara Oliveira (Luminate Medical)

Dr Bárbara Oliveria is CCO and Co-Founder of Luminate Medical, a health tech company that is building technologies to help prevent the side effects of cancer treatment. Their mission is to help patients live, not just survive. Founded in 2019, they developed the first generation of their device, Lily, in 2023. Having taken part in the EIT Health Catapult programme in 2022, Luminate Medical were able to refine their pitching skills, and their exposure to EIT Health’s network of investors and key opinion leaders has accelerated their growth. Since participating in the programme, they have achieved significant milestones: closing a €5M investment round in May 2022, securing funding from the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund in November 2022, and being one of only four Irish companies to receive funding from the EIC in 2023. Most recently, they raised $15M in Series A funding to accelerate the development of their technologies and are now preparing for a US launch in 2025. Learn more.

Scale-Up: Lenka Röhryová (Vitadio)

Lenka Röhryová is one of the four co-founders of Vitadio, a MedTech company specialising in developing prescription digital therapeutics for Type 2 diabetes. Theirs is the first digital therapy with DiGA status, meaning that their innovative app is now officially recognised as a reimbursable digital health application by the German government. Vitadio for diabetes offers a holistic approach to managing the disease, helping users identify and achieve lifestyle goals that significantly impact their condition. The product covers various aspects of health, including nutrition, physical activity, sleep, mental well-being, and diabetes self-management. A standout feature is their AI algorithm called ALFRED, which provides real-time automated guidance based on nutritional patterns from meal photos. Learn more.

Over the next three weeks, we will reveal their journeys as entrepreneurs and how EIT Health has supported them every step of the way.

 

References

[1] Stakeholderz (2024) European startup Ecosystem Overview: H1 2024 highlights, UK Business Angels Association. Available at: https://ukbaa.org.uk/blog/2024/08/21/european-startup-ecosystem-overview-h1-2024-highlights/#:~:text=In%20H1%2C%20European%20startups%20attracted,in%20the%20region’s%20entrepreneurial%20potential. (Accessed: 29 October 2024).