MedTech Accelerator® Stimulating innovation in medical technologies

Created in 2016 on the initiative of hub.brussels and its cluster lifetech.brussels., MedTech Accelerator® is an accelerator programme for medical devices. For the past 4 years, it has contributed to the sharp rise in the number of businesses active in the medical sector and has supported 36 projects (software, hardware, services or a combination) led by innovative entrepreneurs.

Among the entrepreneurs supported within the framework of MedTech Accelerator ® , projects receive recognition not only in Belgium but also internationally, such as Move-Up and its post-operative re-education solution, Spentys and its 3D-printed orthopaedic locking systems, or Kaspard and its bed-leaving monitoring system to prevent falls. These solutions now provide support to care providers and patients in their daily lives.

Other, more R&D intensive projects will be available in the short term, such as Axiles Bionics (development of a bionic foot), StellaScreen (in vitro test system to identify whether a molecule activates or deactivates the cells in the liver responsible for a specific pathology, soda disease) and Lys Medical (endoscopy decision aid system).

4 months to learn

MedTech Accelerator ® is a programme that assists early-stage medtechpreneurs with the development of their entrepreneurial skills and helps them take on the sector's challenges with the aid of over 120 experts and support workers. It consists of 14 days of collective sessions spread over 4 months and covers commercial aspects (finance, sales, pitching skills, product development, UX etc.), MedTech specificities (clinical trials, traceability, prototyping etc.) and - new in 2020 - digital health specificities (production, protection, use and security of health data). The programme also includes 20 hours of personalised coaching, in-depth discussions with the MedTech ecosystem and visits in industry. In addition, entrepreneurs are given the opportunity to present their solution to a number of different audiences (patients, healthcare professionals, experts, federal agencies, research centres, investment funds etc.).

Visit as part of MedTech Accelerator

One of the important aspects of the programme is the creation of a company-specific network. Thanks to the lifetech.brussels cluster, a large number of meetings are organised, allowing them to find a partner, a financial backer or first customer and thus to speed up their project's development. And support to entrepreneurs doesn't end at the end of the programme, since the cluster continues to provide individual support to each project leader.

Innovating in a highly regulated sector

The health sector is faced with a great number of challenges. At a time when the population is getting older and chronic illnesses are on the rise, leading to an explosion in costs, the sector needs to maintain a high level of quality in its care, this is spite of a shortage of healthcare professionals who are under increasing pressure. A large number of ideas are emerging to handle these problems and improve quality of work for doctors and patient health. However, since this is an area where human health is involved, innovating is not easy in the sector. It is quite rightly highly regulated, meaning there is little space for risk taking and innovation.

For this reason, MedTech Accelerator ® stimulates development by capitalising on the expertise, infrastructure and sectoral ecosystems available in Belgium. The specificity of the programme and what makes it successful is that it was built by the sector, for the sector. It is supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The 2020 edition of MedTech Accelerator ® will start in February 2020. Information is available at www.medtech-accelerator.eu

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