CRAASH Barcelona participants validate projects in Paris, Delft and Boston

The projects participating in the CRAASH Barcelona acceleration program have validated their healthtech technology in various European markets and the Boston ecosystem.

CRAASH Barcelona is an acceleration program organized by Biocat in collaboration with CIMIT (Boston) and is part of the bootcamps program run by EIT Health, the main European healthcare consortium.

Eight projects from the program visited the ecosystems in Paris (Medicen) and Delft (YES!Delft) in September and October, respectively, to validate the fit of their technologies in the French and Dutch markets. On these road trips, participants also participated in training sessions and pitches to break into these markets, and interviewed stakeholders in these healthcare ecosystems to validate their projects and scout for potential partners.

Five of the projects were selected to participate in the final visit of the program, this November in Boston. The projects chosen were: from Barcelona Flomics (a liquid biopsy tool for screening, diagnosis, prognosis, monitoring and triage of patients with complex diseases like colorectal cancer); German company Clouz with the Nima project (reliable, low-cost surgical knots to minimize risk to patients in operating rooms and emergency situations); Irish project Luminate Medical (a portable electric device to fight chemotherapy-related hair loss); Fine Birth (a project from Spanish company Innitius that provides real-time diagnosis of false alarms of preterm labor with a quick, affordable test), and Belgian project SeizeIT (a wearable device that goes in the patient's ear and discretely collects various sorts of signals to detect epileptic seizures).

Goal: to reach the market in 3-5 years

CRAASH Barcelona will train the eight 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. The first phase (April to June) 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 France, the Netherlands, and Boston.

CRAASH Barcelona was recognized by Diario Médico as one of the best idees in healthcare  of 2018. The project is part of the bootcamp programs run by EIT Health. Biocat expects to open the call for the upcoming edition of the program in early 2020.