d·Health Barcelona Part Time is back with new benchmark hospitals in Catalonia

Innovation isn’t an innate quality; it’s a skill that can be developed. If you have an innovative idea you’re excited about, apply to join the second edition of the Biocat talent development program in health innovation:  d·HEALTH Barcelona Part Time.

A training activity that has fellows create and develop a technological solution based on unmet clinical needs identified in hospitals, using the Stanford University biodesign methodology. The program is for professionals with degrees in health, engineering, business and design. 

The main changes in this second edition are that the program has been extended from six to eight months, and there are now six hospitals where fellows will do their clinical immersion, with Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu and Dr. Josep Trueta University Hospital joining the program. The hospitals continuing to take part in the program are: Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital, Bellvitge University Hospital and Hospital Universitari Parc Taulí.

How does the program work?

The program features online and in person training sessions twice a week, focusing on the health industry and the healthcare system, product development and market access, plus talks by entrepreneurs. The program modules are:

1. Kick off (from March 11 to April 5): presentation of the program (online).
    
2. Identifying needs (April 8 to 19): clinical immersion at hospitals to identify unmet clinical needs. (in person).
    
3. Filtering needs (April 22 to July 19): identifying the needs with the most potential and coming up with an initial concept for the solution. (online).
    
4. Prototyping and business model (September 2 to December 13): developing the solution to the need chosen (online/in person).
    
5. Graduation week (December 16 to 18): three days of training and practice to pitch the solution to hundreds of professionals from the sector (in person).
   
    

And what makes the program particularly attractive?

According to participants in the first edition of the program, one of the most attractive aspects of the program is the two-week clinical immersion at the hospitals, when fellows identify unmet clinical needs and find technological solutions to address them. “The clinical immersion gave me a close look at patients and their problems to help me understand their needs” highlights Jose Federico García, who did his clinical immersion at Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital in the first edition of the program. One of the other fellows, Alejandro Ventura, valued the attention from staff during his time at Hospital Universitari Parc Taulí: “Everyone was very open and passionate about finding a better solution for patients, and that really inspired me.” Check out some of the highlights of the clinical immersion from the first edition in 2023.

d·HEALTH Barcelona Part Time receives support from the Catalan Ministry of Health, EIT Health and Tech Barcelona.