The summit of a 3-year journey – DIGI-B-CUBE at the 2022 Health Valley Event

“Innovation is seeing what everyone sees, but thinking what nobody has thought”, goes a famous quote by Dr. Albert Szent-Györgyi, a Hungarian biochemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937.

It is very much in the spirit of this quote that 17 beneficiaries of the DIGI-B-CUBE project came together at Pathé Nijmegen in the Netherlands for the 2022 Health Valley Event. These are 17 innovations in the field of medical diagnosis and IT and therefore they represent 17 novel opportunities to improve healthcare and 17 examples of innovation in the making – thinking what nobody has thought.

The 2022 Health Valley Event was the stage for the Final Conference and Consortium Meeting of the DIGI-B-CUBE project. From March 15th to March 17th 2022, the consortium partners of DIGI-B-CUBE and 17 beneficiaries met in Nijmegen or participated online in this remarkable hybrid event. The motto of the 2022 programme was: “Connect, Challenge and Grow”, aligned with the event’s main social challenge, which is to “ensure that we will at least live 5 years longer in good health by 2040 and reduce the health differences between social classes by 30%”. The DIGI-B-CUBE Booth was the number 20+21, located by the main plenary room of the venue, right at the centre of the event activities to grab the attention of participants walking by.

Day 1 – March 15th – for the DIGI-B-CUBE project partners began with the final consortium meeting, held at the Hotel Van der Welk. In the meeting, the project’s achievements, progress and next steps were actively discussed. For the consortium partners, it was also a chance to review the lessons learnt and the best practices identified over the course of the 3-year journey, which began back in May 2019.

Day 2 – March 16th – was arguably the busiest day for the DIGI-B-CUBE beneficiaries. Gawel Walczak moderated the three DIGI-B-CUBE sessions that took place in Room 2 at the event venue, Pathé Nijmegen. The theme of the DIGI-B-CUBE sessions was “Boosting innovation to enhance patient-centred diagnosis and treatment”. Daniel Pichler was the first presenter, walking the attendance through the 3-year journey of DIGI-B-CUBE, explaining how the project helped fuel the innovative technologies present at the event and how this positive impact was repeated throughout the programme. Alexandre Motta from IMcoMET, explained how his start-up is developing a melanoma diagnostic device with cordless connection. The third speaker of the first DIGI-B-CUBE session was Vitalii Vorkov from RespiQ, who raised awareness about chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and how RespiQ proposes to tackle this major cause of deaths worldwide. The second DIGI-B-CUBE session of the day was opened by Maciej Grajewski from SG Papertronics, who are working on self-tests for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. Maciej’s presentation was followed by that of Joan Vieyra Galí from Loop Diagnostics, who presented the SeptiBell solution. SeptiBell is a novel fin vitor cellular immunoassay that identifies bloodstream infection through immune activity and aims at providing a faster diagnosis of sepsis. Kathy Mulders, from Panda Whale, who attended the event along with Niel Vredeveldt, was the final presenter of this second session. She introduced the audience to Sparky – a gamified approach on how to help young lung patients train and monitor their respiratory capacity from home.

The third and final DIGI-B-CUBE session of the day featured Charles H. Gayot from STEPUP Health, a start-up working on the digitalisation of COPD monitoring using smart wearables. Charles was joined at this event by Laurynas Zubavičius. Nuno Afonso, from FASTinov, then presented an innovative technology that aims to create the world’s fastest antimicrobial susceptibility test for bacterial infections. After Nuno’s presentation, Coen Breedveld from Levels Diagnostics introduced the audience to the start-up’s rapid diagnostic tools and how, together with machine learning algorithms, these can use biomarkers to screen for certain diseases. The final speaker was Thierry Bouët from DicarTech, who presented his automatic medical device for measuring tissue perfusion patients in critical conditions, such as sepsis haemorrhage. The DIGI-B-CUBE project partners had a special gift in store for the beneficiaries – light blue (Customised Solution Innovation) and orange (Prototyping) replicas of the vouchers they received for their start-up. A token of appreciation and a piece of memorabilia to take back home.

A “walking dinner” took place at the end of the first and of the second day, giving consortium partners and DIGI-B-CUBE beneficiaries a chance of informal networking, taking note of the important moments of the Health Valley Event and to look back on the memorable 3-year journey that had now reached its summit. Day 3 – March 17th – was the last day of the 2022 Health Valley Event. It featured the online presentations of Flexsight, who are working on a fast end-to-end 3D scanning and printing system of orthopaedic cast, by Daniele Evangelista, NORGANOID, who aim to develop a worldwide available online service to monitor the quality of human brain organoids engineered using the 3D-Brain-On-Chip, by Charlotte Ohonin and Think Biosolution, who are working on at-Home COVID-19 monitoring and triaging Platform, by Shourjya Sanval. Beneficiaries and project partners took the chance to continue networking and attending the event’s final sessions before bidding farewell and parting ways.

These were not all the DIGI-B-CUBE beneficiaries that joined the cohort for the Health Valley Event! Jovan Stevovic from Chino.io, Sarina Maigoda and André Pelzmann from NORGANOID, Siegfried Schwarz from KML Vision, Sophia Shanko from Shanx Medtech, Marco Filippi from Wego srl and Karl Õkva from Thorgate were in Nijmegen and attended a range of presentations and sessions at the event.

Over 1,000 people from 25+ nationalities registered for this year’s edition of HVE, from nearly 500 companies from the fields of Life Sciences & Health. Over 80 international speakers and 60 exhibitors were part of HVE 2022, which also included more than 40 inspiration sessions for the innovative start-ups and SMEs in attendance.

In sum, the Health Valley Event proved to be an excellent platform for the DIGI-B-CUBE beneficiaries to get to know each other, to network, exchange ideas and collect inspiration for the further development of their innovative technologies that aim to improve healthcare.

It was truly a privilege to assist the DIGI-B-CUBE beneficiaries’ novel technologies in their development and growth and it will be very exciting to learn about their next developments on their journey to improve healthcare. We look forward to staying in touch with this group and continue to witness innovation in the making – seeing what everybody sees, but thinking what nobody has thought.

[15/03] DIGI-B-CUBE Final Conference and Consortium Meeting at the Health Valley Event 2022

DIGI-B-CUBE Final Conference and Consortium Meeting will take place in the context of the Health Valley Event (HVE) 2022 in Nijmegen, in the Netherlands.

HVE is the place to be in the Netherlands to meet everyone involved in research, innovation and business in Life Sciences and Health. Past editions of the event attracted more than 1,200 visitors each year.

This year, HVE will take place on 15 March – 17 March 2022 in hybrid form: on site at Pathé Nijmegen (Netherlands) and virtually with a special online event programme.

DIGI-B-CUBE Final Conference and Consortium Meeting will be held on March 15 at the event venue.

DIGI-B-CUBE beneficiaries will have the chance to present their project during pitching sessions on March 16.

On March 16 and 17, DIGI-B-CUBE will also have a booth for companies to presents their technologies.

In detail, DIGI-B-CUBE agenda for the event will be the following:

PITCHING SESSIONS
MARCH 16 (ON-SITE)THEMESPEAKERCOMPANY
13:30–14:15DIGI-B-CUBE INTRODaniela CoutinhoSPI
Melanoma Diagnostic Device Integration and Cordless ConnectionAlexandre MottaIMcoMET
Automation of RespiQ breath analysis sensorVitalii VorkovRespiq
14:15COFFEBREAK
14:30–15:15Health Sentinel for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) patientsMaciej GrajewskiSG Papertronics B.V.
SeptiBell: first-in-class in vitro cellular immunoassay for bloodstream infection identificationEnrique HernandezLoop Diagnostics
Sparky for Airathome, helping young lung patient strainand monitor from homeKathy MuldersPhanda Whale
15:15COFFEBREAK

15:30 – 16:

15:30 – 16:10

Digitalisation of COPD Monitoring Using Smart Wearable TechnologyCharles H.GayotStep up Health
FASTinov: The world’s fastest Antimicrobial Susceptibility Test for critical bacterial infectionNuno Afonsofastinnov
Liver disease biomarker screening using machine learning
algorithms		Coen BreedveldLevelsDiagnostics
16:10END
MARCH 17 (ONLINE)THEMESPEAKERCOMPANY
13:30–14:15Digital Migraine TreatmentCathrine Ro HeuchNordic Brain tech AS
Online Service for quality monitoring of 3D-brain-on-chip and Alzheimer’s Disease ModelCharlotte OhoninNORGANOID
E-Cast: Fast end-to-end 3D scanning and printing system of orthopedic castsDaniele EvangelistaFlexsight
At-Home COVID-19 Monitoring and Triaging PlatformShourjya SanyalThink Biosolution
 

BOOTH

 MARCH 16

MARCH 17

 

09:30 – 13:30IMcoMETCHINO
Phanda WhaleLoop Diagnostics
ShanX Medtech VDiscar Tech
13:30 – 18:30OMNIGENfastinnov
THORGATEStep Up Health
NORGANOIDKML Vision

DIGI-B-CUBE invites SMEs, companies, ambassadors, stakeholders and interested parties to take part in this inspiring final event.

Registration and more information available on the event website:

Registration

[28/01] DIGI-B-CUBE workshop in the “Health Tech Hub Styria event” – Innovation challenges in medical diagnostics and how SMEs solve them

DIGI-B-CUBE is hosting an online session on the 28th of January 2022 where 5 European companies awarded for DIGI-B-CUBE funding, will introduce their digital solutions in medical diagnostics.

We invite DIGI-B-CUBE ambassadors, companies, research or business partner, potential investor, and funding agencies, to this online event, which will count with the participation of representatives of innovative SMEs in the technological field.

All the sessions will be held in English and will be free of charge for subscription until the 27th January 2022.

 

09:00-09:30

Cascade funding & benefits for clusters and SMEs

Carina Schachinger, Business Upper Austria (AT)

DIGI-B-CUBE project

09:30-10:30

Showtime for SME innovation: 10’ pitches

Mr. Daniele Evangelista, FlexSight s.r.l. (IT)

Ms. Lorena Sánchez, Making Genetics (ES)

Mr. Thierry Bouet, DicarTech SAS (FR)

Ms. Sonia Neary, Wellola (IE)

Ms. Varsha Thakoersing, IMcoMET (NL)

Furthermore, this online-session will show how clusters can use cascade funding to support SME innovation and, vice versa, how SMEs can use cascade funding to move on with their ideas.

The participating SMEs are:

  To attend this workshop, please find the link below to register: https://www.hth-styria.com/agenda?session=c2Vzc2lvbjoxMDY5MjA%3D

[2/12] How to manage an investment round: legal and financial aspects

DIGIBCUBE partner, SECPHO, is organizing an online workshop on the typical process of an investment round and acquainting an idea of how to successfully raise capital. It aims to give glance about the different types of investors and guide SMEs through the usual steps by handy insights. In addition, Legal and financial aspects, preparatory and subsequent controlling will be covered in this workshop. The workshop will be presented by SECPHO from Barcelona, Spain.

Registration Admission to the workshop is free. Register here: https://bit.ly/3CcUBMs

 

[15/11] Cascade Funding meets eHealth: How SMEs make use of clusters for innovation in medical diagnostics

On the occasion of MEDICA fair in Düsseldorf, the number 1 meeting place for the medical sector globally, DIGI-B-CUBE is organising a session on “Cascade Funding meets eHealth: How SMEs make use of clusters for innovation in medical diagnostics “, on November 15th, 2021.

This online-session will show how clusters can use cascade funding to support SME innovation and vice versa how SMEs can use cascade funding to move on with their ideas.

In addition, the following 4 European companies awarded for DIGI-B-CUBE funding will introduce their digital solutions in medical diagnostics live to the audience:

Get to know the EU project in advance by browsing https://digibcube.eu/ and grab the opportunity to meet pioneering SMEs directly in the session!

 

For registration, click here:  🔗 https://bit.ly/3D3j6gb

  • To be noted, the registration fee does not include the admission ticket to the MEDICA trade fair. 
  • To explore more events at the international healthcare brokerage event, click here: 🔗 https://bit.ly/3EZXBxe
  • To find more info about MEDICA fair, click here:  🔗 https://bit.ly/3H6BiaZ

[16/11] GDPR & Cybersecurity

DIGIBCUBE partner, INFOPOLE, is organizing an online workshop to introduce a presentation about GDPR, Data Protection and Cybersecurity. It aims to support SMEs in the ICT and Life Sciences domains to prepare their projects for the data protection regulations and protect with extra care their patients’ data. The workshop will consist of two sessions: the first one will include presentations and guidelines of GDRP, Cyber Security and best practices;  the second one will be a personalised session with experts in specific topics that SMEs will express their interest in.

 

Registration

Admission to the workshop is free. Register here: https://bit.ly/3CcUBMs

DIGI-B-CUBE – a EU funded Horizon 2020 project where Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the areas of Health & ICT can receive funding, innovation & technical support, and become part of a large pan-European network of forward-thinking companies and researchers within the health sector.

Intended outcomes

Sitting in home office? Take your lunch break during the workshop and get informed about:

  • The opportunities the DIGI-B-CUBE project, Innovation Norway & Research Council of can offer for the Health & ICT sector
  • Opportunities for international cooperation in the relevant sectors
  • Specific examples for potential collaboration projects
  • Bring new perspectives to research projects and, together with the health approach, provide comprehensive and very competitive solutions in the market.

 

Current Funding opportunities

DIGI-B-CUBE – Calls for Proposals

SMEs from EU member states and H2020 associated countries are eligible for the funding.
See the open call details here: https://digibcube.eu/open-calls/

How does the digital match making work?

What is a matchmaking event?
A matchmaking event is essentially a meeting place for businesses. Here companies get the opportunity to meet with other companies for rather brief, rarely more than 20 minutes, 1-to-1 meetings to discuss potential projects and assess if their goals are compatible. It is often compared to speed-dating, but for companies. 

In a short amount of time you get to explore whether the two of you have overlapping project interests and might benefit from talking further about potential cooperation. The great thing about a matchmaking is that each meeting is long enough to explore the important topics, but short enough that you have not invested a lot of your time if you realise that you are not compatible.

Why should I attend a matchmaking?
Innovating is a challenging endeavour – it takes time, resources and dedication. But innovation is also the way to solve the challenges of tomorrow, and to stay competitive. Facilitating partnerships for a more competitive and innovative Europe is the main goal for our matchmaking events. In these events, we seek to facilitate a meeting place where European companies with innovative ideas can meet and discuss how they can cooperate across borders to create successful projects.

Do you have an idea or a plan that will innovate a product, service or technology? And will it, as a result, boost your own competitiveness? Will it, in addition, help solve societal and environmental challenges? Then the EEA and Norway Grants matchmakings is an event you cannot miss – here you can meet potential partner companies from various European countries, all seeking to innovate and solving the challenges of today and tomorrow.

How is a digital matchmaking different?
A digital matchmaking, also known as a virtual matchmaking, works the same way as a physical matchmaking. The purpose is for the attending companies to identify and meet potential cooperation partners. The only difference is that instead of having to travel to the location, you can do it from the comfort of your own home or office.

This indicates both challenges and opportunities. When an event is not physical, you don’t get to mingle and establish connections face to face. But there are instead new opportunities:

  1. The barrier of entry is almost completely removed. We know that it can be hard to take a day out of your busy schedule to attend an event, no matter how interesting it might be. Hence, we plan our digital matchmakings to be effective and concise. We rarely want it to last for more than an hour.
  2. Because the event is more concise, more will be left up to you. The quality of the event will increase the more time you spend creating a good profile, assessing the other participants and evaluating what you would like to get out of a meeting. 

Are you convinced?

Digital matchmakings are, above all, flexible – they are designed to be as user-friendly as possible. Hence, you can trust that the event will be designed with the participant in mind. Have a look at the event agenda on the top of the page.

How do I fill out the profile?

The profile is the principal way that you present yourself to the other participants. We therefore want you to cover a few key topics:

1) Registration
Register via the green “Register now” button

2) Create your profile
When you fill out your profile, there will be specific mandatory boxes you need to fill out. These are:

  1. What is your project plan / idea for innovation?
    This ensures that you and your meeting partner have similar ideas for a project.
  2. What do you need for your potential partner to provide? Competence, research, technology, etc.?
    This ensures that you are talking to a potential partner which can actually provide you with what you need.
  3. What will you provide to a potential partner?
    This ensure that other companies know what you can provide them with.

By covering these points you will increase the chance of generating more and better meeting requests.

3) Browse profiles of attendees

Find other participants by entering ‘Participants’ and identify the companies which ideas or plans meet your needs.

4) Send & receive meeting requests

  • When you’ve identified the company you would like to meet 1-on-1, send them a meeting request.
  • Incoming meeting requests have to be accepted to be scheduled – so make sure to reply when you get one. 
  • Adding a meaningful remark why you are interested in a meeting will increase the chance that your request will be accepted. 

Tip

  • TIP: Download the “b2match” mobile app (iOS/Android) to
    * get access to your meeting schedule on your mobile phone

B2B Meetings – A short youtube intro

[10/12] Workshop: Practical approach to patent search with free tool Espacenet

Event Organiser: Business Upper Austria
Date: 12-10-2021

DIGIBCUBE partner, Business Upper Austria, is organizing an online workshop to introduce the patent searches with the database “Espacenet”. This workshop will let participants perform first own searches and will be informed about practical tips and proper search approaches for subsequent independent use in their field of activity. The workshop will be presented by Udo Gennari from Business Upper Austria.

Registration

Admission to the workshop is free. Register here: https://bit.ly/3CcUBMs

🔗Project website: https://digibcube.eu  

Follow DIGI-B-CUBE Social Media:
➡️ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digibcube
➡️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/digiBcube
➡️ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/digiBcube
➡️ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmKt47Xj7ojCyN0OghGZSVw

[09/29] DIGI-B-CUBE Funding opportunities in Europe & partners’ identification

DIGI-B-CUBE partner, SPI, is organising a workshop to promote and discuss funding opportunities for SMEs through Horizon Europe; the biggest ever research and innovation funding programme with a budget of 95 billion Euros. Do you want to find out more about European research funding? Then join this upcoming workshop.

Event Organiser: SPI
Date: 29-09-2021

Agenda

15:30 – 15:40: General introduction to DIGI-B-CUBE and webinar rules

Olga Glumac, SPI

15:40 – 16:15: Introduction to Horizon Europe

Francisco Rocha, SPI

16:15- 17:00: Tips and recommendations for developing proposals

Francisco Rocha, SPI

17:00 – 17:30 Questions and answers

Francisco Rocha, SPI

 

Registration

Admission to the webinar is free but registration is compulsory.

Please register here: https://bit.ly/3CcUBMs

Registrations are open until September 28, 2021.

If you have any questions or need clarification, please contact franciscorocha@spi.pt.

[12/04] Virtual Matchmaking: Medical Data

In this matchmaking event participant SMEs of the INAH project will have the opportunity to present their work in developing a better structure, security, medical knowledge, tools and privacy-by-design to health data access of the Walloon region for research purposes.

Continue reading