Future of Health Grant kicks off with new cohort

Bringing the forces of innovation together to create tomorrow’s medicine, the Future of Health Grant program is gaining traction as an important platform for "Medicine 3.0" in Western Switzerland. It supports innovation in digital health with the aim of creating new care and management solutions. In the future, digital healthcare will allow medicine to focus more on prevention and less on reaction. By giving a selection of start-ups access to established partners, the FoHG, set up by CSS and the EPFL Innovation Park, is creating a unique ecosystem that has the potential to revolutionize medicine for the benefit of patients.

As Philomena Colatrella, CEO of CSS, points out: "Our healthcare system needs updating. Solutions which are agile, fast, simple, personalised, and inexpensive exist. It's time to integrate them. That's why we've been focusing on innovations in digital health for the last 10 years, together with our partners. The Future of Health Grant is one of three vehicles in our innovation strategy."

In the words of Jean-Philippe Lallement, CEO of the EPFL Innovation Park: “We are pleased to be able to contribute to the development of more effective, collaborative and high-tech medicine, with a focus on prevention and personalization, by sharing our start-up experiences, our research links and network of contacts with stakeholders in the healthcare system".

Nine new start-ups selected

Following a call for applications launched on 14 June 2023, the FoHG program has selected 9 new start-ups to receive regular coaching and financial support ranging from CHF 10,000 to 90,000 in the form of coaching and mentoring tailored to their needs. This will allow them to accelerate the development of their solutions in a way designed to optimize their resources and save time.

Level 1 – CHF 10’000 support

• Allians Allergy Allergix – Digital solution empowering healthcare professionals to safeguard patients from medication allergies – Geneva
• Novo Vitae – Preventive mental health platform providing patients with information and treatment (including for long COVID) and “back-to-work” coaching – Zurich
• ClearSky – Edge AI assistant transforming confidential patient interactions into actionable insights with the utmost data security (data processed on the user’s device, not on the cloud) – EPFL spin-off
• Seneca Project – Digital solutions enabling care professionals to self-organise their workload and provide effective support to patients and their family caregivers – Zug
• QuantActions – Digital solution detecting subtle cognitive changes, allowing for earlier care at lower cost given that cognitive assessments are infrequent and expensive – Zurich

Level 2 – CHF 30’000 support

• Tune Insight – Digital solution for secure collaborations on confidential data, enabling collective analytics and federated machine learning across different organisations – Lausanne
• Neuria – Gamified therapies to improve individual behaviours, such as obesity, with customised interventions tailored to patients’ needs – Fribourg
• MYNERVA – Sensorised device helping diabetics to reduce nerve pain and falls – Zurich

Level 3 – CHF 50’000 support

• YLAH – App enabling the continuation of psychotherapy between sessions – Bern

Encouraging results

Thanks to the continuous, tailored support provided by the FoHG team, the start-ups taking part in the program have made remarkable progress. They include: Gossik – a digital assistant that helps people with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) to structure their day, and which has already raised CHF 2.1 million in pre-seed and seed funding, E.rupt, which is developing an application to overcome erectile dysfunction caused by psychological problems, Biped, which is gaining market traction for its obstacle avoidance system that gives people with impaired vision greater autonomy, Ocumeda – which facilitates telemedical eye exams and has built a network of more than 100 Swiss and German opticians, Genknowme – which has been given the green light by the FOPH for genetic testing, and is about to be acquired, Ancora.ai – a platform that allows cancer patients to sign up for clinical trials for new therapies, and which is also on the point of being bought up.

Since its inception, 23 startups have benefited from FoHG support. Three have qualified for level 3, 7 for level 2 and 13 for level 1. Some companies, such as Berne-based YLAH, have gone through all three levels to develop their business.

(Press Release - ES)