5th September 2019
Twelve healthcare projects from emerging regions get kick-start from EIT Health
The results of EIT Health RIS Innovation Call 2019 are now available.
A system allowing 24/7 heart monitoring, a device helping diabetes patients avoid leg amputation, an AI-enhanced software looking for the early signs of Alzheimer and an innovative endoprostesis which allows to replace the open surgery with endovascular treatment using 3D printing technology. These are only some of the selected projects in the EIT Health RIS Innovation Call 2019.
In the EIT Health RIS Innovation Call 2019 the selected consortiums will receive mentoring and funding up to €75 000 from EIT Health, one of the biggest European public-private partnerships in the field of healthcare innovation. In one of Central, Eastern and Southern Europe’s most promising healthcare innovation calls, evaluators selected twelve projects that one day might help European citizens to live longer, healthier and happier lives. A total of 104 encouraging applications were submitted. Out of the twelve selected projects, four came from Slovenia, two from Croatia and Romania, and one from Greece, Estonia, Italy and Slovakia. The granted solutions are related to big data/cloud (33%), new technologies (33%), mobile app (17%) and wearable devices (17%). All of them represent Focus Areas, the main fields of healthcare innovations that are on the radar of EIT Health.
“This year we organised the EIT Health InnoStars RIS Innovation Call for countries that are – according to the European Innovation Scoreboard – more progressing ones in terms of innovations. The number of applications surpassed our most optimistic expectations”, said Mónika Tóth, EIT Health InnoStars RIS Programme Manager. “The contest proved that the potential of healthcare innovation is very high in the emerging countries participating in the Regional Innovation Scheme. The infrastructure might be slightly less developed than in more progressed countries, but the talent pool is remarkable and the capabilities to innovate is impressive. Our countries have young, talented people who are digitally savvy and thirsty to embrace change. These are the key ingredients of developing innovative technologies in healthcare, which will hopefully improve the lives of all European citizens.”
More about RIS Innovation Call 2019
The call was organized within the EIT Health Regional Innovation Scheme (RIS), the European programme that supports more progressing regions in discovering and developing innovations in healthcare and other areas. Organized for the first time in 2019, the programme’s Innovation Call aimed at funding high-quality, strong and balanced projects to be developed by local academic and non-academic institutions. The projects are to be coordinated with the involvement of programme’s local EIT Health Hubs: Ljubljana University Incubator in Slovenia, Tartu Biotechnology Park in Estonia, Consorzio Arca in Italy, National Documentation Centre (EKT) in Greece, Asociatia INIT & Freshblood HealthTech Community in Romania and University of Zagreb in Croatia. The selected projects receive funding, mentoring and matchmaking with potential partners to develop business opportunities. The selected projects are available here.
Regional Innovation Scheme is funded by European Institute of Innovation and Technology and – in the field of healthcare – coordinated by EIT Health InnoStars.
“This year we organised the EIT Health InnoStars RIS Innovation Call for countries that are – according to the European Innovation Scoreboard – more progressing ones in terms of innovations. The number of applications surpassed our most optimistic expectations”.
Mónika Tóth, EIT Health InnoStars RIS Programme Manager
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