The participants in d·HEALTH Barcelona Part Time grapple with new challenges in the prototyping and business model phase
Having completed the clinical immersion and chosen the unmet clinical need for which they will try to develop a solution, the participants in the second edition of the d·HEALTH Barcelona Part Time program are entering the prototyping and business model phase, a key stage in bringing their innovations to market
One of the key times for the participants in the second edition of the d·HEALTH Barcelona Part Time program was choosing the clinical need with the most potential that they detected during their hospital immersion. After several weeks “observing” the day-to-day operations in some areas of benchmark hospitals in Catalonia – Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital, Bellvitge University Hospital, Hospital Universitari Parc Taulí, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau and Josep Trueta University Hospital – the budding entrepreneurs have had to sift through the dozens of proposals to focus on the need with the strongest possibility of becoming an innovative, effective solution.
With the clinical need clearly defined, this week the teams have dived into the prototyping and business model phase, the third stage in an eight-month program that lasts until 18 December, when they will present their final project before hundreds of professionals in the sector on Graduation Day.
This stage entails developing and fine-tuning prototypes through rounds of trial and error, while taking into account factors like technical feasibility, costs, and commercial strategies to ensure that the solution has a future on the market. According to experts, this process requires creativity, patience, and a constant willingness to experiment.
To guide the participants in this critical phase, several workshops have been held these days, led by experts in developing medical devices and innovation, at Pier07 in Tech Barcelona. Those experts include Jose Antonio Gago from EURECAT, Silvia Vinyes from DKV, Enrique Hernández from Loop Diagnostrics, and Jordina Arcal from Mjn Neuro. Parallel to the prototyping, the students have been working on creating a business model, an essential tool in determining how their solution will create value and carve a niche for itself on the market, guaranteeing that the project is not only innovative but also sustainable and impactful.