CRAASH Barcelona participants explore German ecosystem

The CRAASH Barcelona program, promoted by Biocat with collaboration from CIMIT in Boston, provided participants the opportunity to virtually discover the two main German life sciences and healthcare innovation hubs, Mannheim and Heidelberg. The sessions allowed the six teams to gain a closer understanding of the German ecosystem, forge key contacts and delve deeper into regulatory and strategic aspects that are key for developing their projects.  

On the first day, the participants received an introduction to the local ecosystem from experts like Katharina Klotzbach, from Next Mannheim, and Dr. Bodo Brückner, from Life Science Accelerator Baden-Wuerttemberg, who highlighted the opportunities and synergies Mannheim and Heidelberg have to offer for international startups. The initial session also included an explanation of the program from Fiona Preisler of the Up2B Accelerator. 

The program continued with workshops on medical device regulations led by Rita Hendricusdottir from Regmetrics, and sessions on artificial intelligence applied to medical products led by Peter Hartung-Linz of Seleon GmbH. Plus, the teams got to learn about the ‘Inspire Living Lab’  platform and hear firsthand from startups like Qumea and inContAlert, which shared what they have learned from validating their solutions.  

The final day of the immersion focused on topics such as reimbursement for medical technologies and digital health apps in Germany through the DiGA process. Axel Meiling gave the participants an overview of this tool, which is key to marketing digital solutions in Germany. The program finished off with a branding workshop led by Peter Kuyt of Visual Friday, who stressed the importance of a solid identity in the medtech market.   

This experience not only helped better prepare the CRAASH Barcelona teams to tackle the European market, it also showed them the importance of building international networks in the life sciences and healthcare sector. 
 

Next Stop: Boston

Once the European immersion stage is complete, the teams will be introduced to the Boston ecosystem, one of the world’s leading health innovation hubs. They will see how the rounds of funding work in the United States, discover the American healthcare structure, reimbursement, healthcare sector regulations and the best time to begin business on the continent. With this immersion, the program’s seventh edition will draw to a close.