The pilot phase of Munich's first Digital Health Accelerator is coming to an end. It's time to draw conclusions. To mark the occasion, the startups of "Batch Zero" presented their results to the public.
In February 2018, the pharmaceutical company Roche launched the "Digital Health" accelerator to promote an open exchange between industry and digital health startups. The company partnered with WERK1, which, with its infrastructure, office space, workshops, lectures, and established local network, offers an ideal working environment for the participating startups. The accelerator builds on the Roche-initiated Future X Healthcare (FXH) event, which took place for the first time in Munich in November 2017 with more than 300 participants under the motto “Making Data Meaningful”.
Five digital health startups at “Batch Zero”
Five German and international digital health startups participated in the pilot phase, the “Batch Zero”: The two finalists of the FXH Start-up Award 2017, FibriCheck (Belgium) and StethoMe (Poland), as well as the Munich-based startup inveox, Medicus AI (Austria), and SagivTech from Israel. From February to June 2018, the startups worked together with Roche on concrete pilot projects at the WERK1 facility. They also received individual, tailored support through workshops, coaching, and business expertise from Roche mentors and external experts.
Verena Kretschmann, Head of European Operations at Medicus AI, with a brief conclusion:
"What we're taking away from our time in the Digital Health Accelerator is, above all, partnership. The entire batch is geared toward identifying potential synergies and overlaps. I would therefore recommend other digital health startups to apply for the next round, as it's extremely hands-on. We were really pleasantly surprised, because from the very beginning, it's about exploring whether and how we can collaborate in some way."
Completion of a successful pilot phase with the “Demo Day”
As part of the Demo Day, which marked the successful completion of "Batch Zero," the participating startups presented their final results to investors and other stakeholders yesterday. Roche will continue to engage with the five startups afterward about possible future forms of collaboration—including joint research projects, collaborations, mentoring programs, and even share acquisitions.
"We have broken new ground with the Digital Health Accelerator and are all the more pleased with the successful outcome of the pilot phase. I would like to thank the participating startups and our cooperation partners for this,"
said Dr. Ursula Redeker, spokesperson for the management of Roche Diagnostics GmbH. She continued:
"I think we were able to provide the startups with individual and targeted support in further developing their business models. And we also learned a lot—especially from the creativity and dynamism with which the participants inspired and captivated us. We see numerous opportunities for further collaboration in the future."
Based on the successful pilot phase, Roche will continue the Digital Health Accelerator concept. Designed to run for several years, it is aimed at startups worldwide and will enter the next round in September with "Batch One" in Munich.
