10 projects chosen to participate in 2nd edition of CRAASH Barcelona
<p>The acceleration program promoted by Biocat and CIMIT with EIT Health received 65 applications from 21 countries</p>
A total of 10 projects led by entrepreneurs from 7 European countries (Spain, Germany, Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, Portugal and the United States) have been chosen to participate in the 2nd edition of CRAASH Barcelona, the acceleration program Biocat organized in collaboration with CIMIT (Boston). CRAASH Barcelona is part of the bootcamp programs run by EIT Health, the main European healthcare consortium.
This year, CRAASH Barcelona received 85% more applications than in 2018: a total of 65 projects from 21 countries applied to take part in the 2nd edition of the program, which is geared towards projects with cutting-edge technology (diagnostics, medical devices and e/digital health) that have come out of European research centers, hospital research institutes and universities.
The 10 projects chosen to participate in CRAASH Barcelona this year are:
- Smart Flora: Personalised plans for diet and nutritional supplements delivered through a mobile app from the British company Smart Flora with a base in Barcelona. Smart Flora aims to alleviate patients’ intestinal discomfort. Users receive a probiotic recommendation based on their symptoms and food recommendations based on their microbiome profile, analyzed in the laboratory beforehand.
- NeedleSafe: Technology from Universitat Pompeu Fabra able to avoid the risk of infections after biopsy procedures, based on electrically releasing silver ions from a silver coating on the biopsy needle.
- Aniling: Proprietary, first-in-class solution from start-up Aniling, that enables simultaneous genome and epigenome analysis for research and clinical use to advance personalized medicine.
- Flomics: Liquid biopsy tool developed by Flomics Biotech that combines analysis of ribonucleic acid (RNA) circulating in the blood and machine learning algorithms for screening, diagnosis, prognosis, monitoring and stratification of patients with complex diseases like colorectal cancer.
- Smiletronix: Project from start-up Smiletronix that combines the latest IoT and Ai techniques to create a solution that allows users to regularly and affordably complete dental health diagnostics in the comfort of their own homes.
- NIMA: Surgical knot device project from Berlin Charite University Hospital, developing an innovative surgical knotting technology that enables efficient, high-quality surgical suturing by medical personnel in and outside the operating theatre.
- SeizeIT: Non-stigmatizing wearable that monitors biosignals to generate qualitative analysis of epileptic seizure activity. Developed by Byteflies in co-creation with UCB Pharma (Belgium) to help epilepsy patients get an optimized and personalized treatment.
- Levitate Medical: Laparoscopic surgical device that can treat Pelvic Organ Prolapse in a safer more effective way. The Device allows surgeons to perform a minimally invasive, mesh-free procedure which solves all design requirements.
- Luminate Medical: A novel solution to end hair loss in chemotherapy using a portable, wearable and comfortable device based on a disruptive technology platform. The Ireland based team is eliminating pain, infection risk and waiting lists from chemotherapy induced hair loss treatment.
- Fine Birth: Project from start-up Innitius to develop a device which can diagnose in real time the false threatened preterm labor (PTL) cases with a low-cost test.
From Barcelona to Boston
CRAASH Barcelona will train the ten teams to market their technology within the next 3 to 5 years. The fellows will be guided by expert mentors from CIMIT (Boston), the most experienced health accelerator in the world. Over 15 years, CIMIT has successfully accelerated more than 600 healthtech projects, doubled the rate of successful commercialization and cut the time-to-next-phase by more than half.
CRAASH Barcelona is an intensive 12-week program divided into three phases. The first phase (May to July) will allow teams to validate whether their technology can cover a real need and find a place on the market. Teams will work with experts from CIMIT in Boston, first in person at an event in Barcelona and then through virtual meetings.
The second phase of CRAASH Barcelona will allow teams to validate their project in two other European markets, France and the Netherlands, through visits to the Medicen (Paris) and Yesdelft! (Delft) ecosystems in September and October.
Finally, some of the CRAASH Barcelona teams will also be able to network and validate their projects in the Boston ecosystem, which is one of the most important in the healthcare sector. They will pitch their projects in November to the Boston ecosystem.
CRAASH Barcelona was recognized by Diario Médico as one of the best ideas in healthcare of 2018. The project is part of the bootcamp programs run by EIT Health. The deadline to submit applications to other European bootcamps in the program is June 17.