Chiesi, new partner in d·HEALTH Barcelona program
The pharmaceutical company is following the clinical immersion of students in the Pulmonology Department at Hospital Clinic
As part of its commitment to respiratory health and innovation, Chiesi España has become a partner in Design Health Barcelona (d·HEALTH Barcelona), the postgraduate program promoted by Biocat to train future innovators and entrepreneurs in the healthcare sector.
d·HEALTH Barcelona is one of only four European programs inspired by the Stanford biodesign methodology. The fellows divide into multidisciplinary teams with graduates in science, design, engineering and business, and do a two-month clinical immersion in hospitals to detect real unmet clinical needs on site that can be the basis for creating new products or services.
In this edition of d·HEALTH Barcelona, one of the teams of fellows did their clinical immersion in the Pulmonology Department at Hospital Clinic Barcelona. This has given Chiesi first-hand knowledge of real unmet needs in this type of patients, as part of its commitment to respiratory health.
In this regard, as a partner in the program, Chiesi has the option to follow the fellows’ findings, meeting periodically to discuss the potential of the clinical needs identified and participate in periodic meetings at the hospital. At the end of the program, Chiesi will get a detailed dossier of the hundreds of needs the fellows have identified in pulmonology, which is a privileged source of innovation for the company.
“Respiratory health is key for Chiesi,” noted Giuseppe Chiericatti, general manager of Chiesi España. “Currently, one of our strategic focal points on a global level is innovation, meaning R&D but also open innovation. This is why the project is so relevant for us, because it allows us to identify and analyze unmet clinical needs in pulmonology at a center of excellence like Hospital Clinic while also giving a group of students the opportunity to train and broaden their experience.”
90% of former fellows are working in the sector
The admissions process for the sixth edition of Design Health Barcelona (d·HEALTH Barcelona) will begin this June and the course will start in January 2019. 90% of fellows that graduate find work in innovation positions in hospitals, pharmaceutical and medical technology companies, research centers or consultancies and other professional services firms. And 48% are currently working on their own project, many of which are based on ideas identified during the clinical immersion in the program.
The program impacts more than 1,100 people each year in the Catalan healthcare ecosystem, including healthcare and hospital personnel, patients, mentors, venture capitalists, research and technology centers and other key stakeholders.
d·HEALTH Barcelona is part of the Innovation Fellowships program of EIT Health, the top European consortium in health, which gives fellows the opportunity to take advantage of international mobility with other programs and gives them access to the extensive European EIT Alumni network after they finish the program.
With the support of*:
*With the support of the Department of Enterprise and Knowledge and the co-financing of the ESF