Applicants sought for Wild Card 2019 projects addressing mental and brain health, and digital biomarkers

Apply by 10 February 2019 for the chance to join a team receiving €2 million to create a start-up

The EIT Health Wild Card programme has launched its second year with a call for applications from medical professionals, entrepreneurs, technologists, data experts and others who are ready to work on commercialising innovative solutions to the challenges of mental and brain health and digital biomarkers in diagnostics.

Applications are being accepted until 10 February 2019.

Successful applicants will begin an entrepreneurial journey to become high-performing teams transforming their idea into a healthcare product or solution.

Winning teams will receive world-class business mentoring from EIT Health and €2 million in funding over two years so that they can form a start-up.

Each Wild Card start-up will be hosted at an incubator, chosen through competition from among EIT Health’s partners.

The journey will build momentum with a week-long hackathon in April 2019, when teams will be formed and the best ideas will be selected to go through to the next phases, including a business acceleration and mentoring programme and a final pitch competition in July 2019.

This year, teams are asked to address one of two questions:

• Mental and brain health: How can we improve prediction, diagnosis and treatment to fight mental disorders and strengthen brain health?
• Digital biomarkers: How can we improve early diagnostics with the application of digital biomarkers?

“Now in its second year, Wild Card continues its search for risk-taking game changers who have the potential to bring about transformations in healthcare,” said Jan-Philipp Beck, EIT Health CEO. “We know this talent is out there and looking for the right opportunities. Through this programme, we hope to find them and offer them the business, research and financial supports necessary to bring their ideas to the next level.”