EIT Health InnoStars releases the Network Entrepreneurship study for Poland

The study on an ecosystem supporting start-ups in Poland identified key nodes and links that are essential axes for the development of medical and health innovation in the country. It is the very first of this kinds analysis of links around start-ups and other market players. A similar reviews are being prepared for Hungary, Portugal, and Italy.

The study, prepared by the EIT Health InnoStars, includes links between almost 550 entities that have been particularly active in the development of innovative projects in the last five years in Poland. The analysed start-ups’ relations with accelerators, investors, hospitals, research units, or government agencies showed the most important meeting points (nodes) that significantly support the healthcare start-up’s ecosystem development. The study aimed to show the network of cooperation within the framework of the Polish ecosystem but also to create recommendations for individual market actors. Visualization of the number and importance of links can help to understand the potential development scenarios of both start-ups and business environment institutions.

According to the analysis, the position in the ecosystem (so-called page rank) is defined mainly by the number of links. Among the organisations that had the highest page rank ratio in Poland were the National Centre for Research and Development, Polish Agency for Enterprise and Development, and EIT Health. It is important because the relations of a start-up with the organisations with the

highest page rank can impact its faster development. The analysis included data on links for 163 start-ups from Poland. The collected data was presented, just like the entire network, in the form of graphical links. It should be noted that, among the analysed start-ups, more than 30% had at least five important links with other organisations.

The methodological assumptions of the EIT Health InnoStars analysis are based on the so-called ‘entrepreneurship network’. This is an approach that presupposes that business value creation can be achieved if entities enter into diverse links and cooperation networks. Only such a network approach guarantees effective business development. According to the study, even though the Polish healthcare start-up ecosystem could be characterized by a relatively low level of maturity, there are strong players which drive its development to the growth stage. This growth could be accelerated even more.

Networks are developing faster based on common values and objectives. For example, the absence of one of the significant network partners, such as an important institution responsible for financing or business development, may result in a significant reduction in the value of such an ecosystem. It is therefore worth investing in building initiatives that provide common goals and values and conducive to the development of the new links within the network.

More about the analysis can be found in the Report “Top Disruptors in Healthcare” here.

The analysis was prepared by the Tamas Babel, Medical and Market Access Manager at EIT Health InnoStars in cooperation with Mikołaj Gurdała, Regional Manager for Poland at EIT Health InnoStars, Michał Brzeziński, Innovation Project Manager at EIT Health InnoStars, and the supporting team.