INESC TEC’s spin-off wins EIT Health prize
InSignals Neurotech, an INESC TEC spin-off in the biomedical engineering area, was awarded second place in the first edition of the EIT Health Startup Meets Pharma programme, which aims at bringing startups that operate in this industry sector closer to major European pharmaceutical companies. InSignals Neurotech won the 2nd prize of the programme, raising a EUR 10 000 financial support. As part of the prize, InSignals Neurotech will participate at the EIT Health Annual Summit, which will be held in December in Paris, in order to present a new wireless wearable device that assesses the rigidity of the wrist for supporting neurosurgical procedures of deep brain stimulation.
There were 14 startups that participated in this programme, presenting a pitch on their business areas before a jury of experts in medical technology. InSignals Neurotech participated in a challenge proposed by the Ferrer company dedicated to Parkinson's disease.
The first edition of the EIT Health Startup Meets Pharma programme was divided into four modules. The first two were focused on training sessions dedicated to the pitch, communication, marketing and sales strategy, among other related topics, and to workshops along with pharmaceutical companies that also participated in the programme. In the third module, each startup visited the pharmacist of the respective challenge that they faced in order to present a pitch on the technological solution that they were developing - and in the InSignals Neurotech's case, this presentation was made to Ferrer. In the fourth and final module, it was the startups’ turn to present the final pitch to a jury. It was in this last challenge that the second place was given to INESC TEC’s spin-off. Another Portuguese startup, BestHealth4u, took first place.
INESC TEC's participation in this first edition of the EIT Health Startup Meets Pharma was a joint work of INESC TEC's Centre for Biomedical Engineering Research (C-BER)and INESC TEC's Technology Licensing Office (SAL), along with the Frontier IP company, which is also a shareholder of the INESC TEC’s spin-off.