Munich Startup: Christoph, you are not only the curator of the Bits & Pretzels Healthtech, but also co-founder and managing director of the healthtech startup Raya DiagnosticsWhy is the future of medicine digital?
Christoph Commes: Digital medicine enables better access to treatment, better quality of treatment, better preventative medicine, and better use of existing resources and structures. These are just a few of the fundamental advantages; the list could go on indefinitely. Another key element of digital medicine is seamless collaboration between all individuals and institutions involved in treatment. This is essential, especially given the ever-increasing shortage of skilled workers. Ultimately, the most important thing is better patient care—and we can only achieve this with digital medicine.
Munich Startup: What is the current significance of digital health in the German market and what potential does the industry still have?
Christoph Commes: The pandemic has certainly provided a decisive push for the introduction of digitalization measures in healthcare. Many trends initiated during the pandemic have now gained a certain momentum, but have not yet become widespread in standard care. In Germany, we are unfortunately still at the very beginning of the digitalization of healthcare compared to other countries. Teleservices, remote monitoring, home-based care, and much more are already part of everyday care in other countries. But I am certain that healthcare in this country will, or must, change in the coming years through the use of digital tools. The potential is enormous, and that is precisely why the sector is currently so attractive to all stakeholders. This is demonstrated, for example, by the number of start-ups and VC investments in recent months.
Munich Startup: How can startups in the healthtech sector compete against established players?
Christoph Commes: As in other areas, the high level of dynamism and adaptability, coupled with their strong innovative power, are the main advantages of startups over established providers, who often lack the same power and speed. Added to this is the approach of thinking 100 percent digitally about internal and external processes from the outset. This is a major advantage when it comes to integrating the solution into existing structures and IT systems, for example. We also see this in our own startup, where we have quickly established technical advantages over established players.
The new format: Bits & Pretzels Healthtech
Munich Startup: Why did Bits – in addition to the successful start-up festival – choose the topic of healthtech?
Christoph Commes: For me, technological innovation is the greatest lever for optimizing many industries, but especially the healthcare sector. This comes primarily from startups that bring fresh thinking to disrupt existing structures and transform industries. We need this push for our healthcare system. Incidentally, this was also one of my motivations for founding a company in this field. And what we were all missing was a central meeting place for the entire ecosystem for lively exchange. Existing events in the health tech sector are heavily geared toward established players and structures – an anchor event with a primary focus on startups was missing until now, and that's exactly what we're delivering with Bits & Pretzels Healthtech.
Munich Startup: Why is Munich the right location for Bits & Pretzels Healthtech?
Christoph Commes: In recent years, Munich has developed into Germany's most important startup/tech hub – especially in the healthcare sector. We have a concentration of university hospitals, with their numerous spin-offs, and medtech and pharmaceutical companies in the region that is unmatched anywhere else in the country. With its comprehensive infrastructure, Munich offers the best conditions for founding companies in the digital health sector. Therefore, it's only logical to make this city the home of Bits&Pretzels Healthcare.
Munich Startup: Bits & Pretzels Healthtech will take place for the second time in 2023. What are you doing differently this year compared to the first edition?
Christoph Commes: We organized the first Bits & Pretzels Healthtech last year within just a few weeks. To put it in digital terms: Last year was our MVP, and it was really well received in the market. Now we've had significantly more preparation time and are closer to "V1." This year, we've become significantly more international, not only in terms of participants but also in terms of the topics. For example, we're bringing together key players from various markets, who will answer questions about how best to enter these countries. There are also significantly more hospital representatives.
Munich Startup: What trends can visitors to this year’s trade fair expect?
Christoph Commes: Of course, the focus is on specialist topics such as AI, data utilization, new care concepts, and the digital hospital. But we also want to contribute to making participating startups and their founders even better. We will therefore discuss, among other things, how to make a health tech startup scalable, how to expand into other countries, how to work successfully with hospitals, and much more.
