Medical universities ensure a great deal of pursuit of dreams. As a rule, these are institutions created to transfer knowledge and build professional medical staff. It turns out, however, that they can also be the place where solutions that optimize the healthcare system are born.
The Medical University of Lodz, in the assumptions of its new strategy for 2021-2025, defined four main areas of activity – Education, Science and R&D, Management and organizational development, and Cooperation for building health care systems. All these areas have been allocated appropriate measures. In practice, a new facility has become the space for the implementation of these activities Center for Innovation and Technology Transfer – MediHUB C-9 building, located on the CKD campus in Łódź.
However, this investment is not only modern interiors dedicated to future entrepreneurs, but above all innovators – members of the MediHUB ecosystem (academic community, patients, entrepreneurs). Every person with vision and enthusiasm is welcome in our ranks.
However, there is no rose without thorns. Creating innovative solutions is an extremely risky undertaking. This is particularly evident in the medical industry, which imposes large amounts of obligations and regulations on young companies. Process optimization is a way to reduce this risk. That is why it was created
“Startup Guide” – our original startup development path
It is a specific incubation and acceleration program that combines the tools provided by the Medical University of Lodz with the competences and knowledge of MediHUB ecosystem experts.
Each supported team receives the deceded Promoter – the team supervisor. He guides the team through the successive stages of the program – Idea, Team, Spark-up, Prototype, Start-up, Business. It also presents in detail the next steps that the team must follow to move to the next steps on the way to commercialization of their solution. The individual steps also highlight benefits for the teams that help them achieve success.
The promoter plays an informative role in this process (in terms of enabling contact with relevant units and partners – in order to achieve the team’s next milestones, as well as feedback on the team’s activities and informing about competitions and other events in which it can participate) and activating through regular contact with the team and motivating them to continue working on the solution.
The goal of our activities is to implement the solutions to the market. Therefore, during the implementation of the next steps of the Startup Guide, the teams complete a set of documentation – pitchdeck – extremely helpful in obtaining financing from external investors. The created offers, analyzes and marketing materials are then distributed among interested investors.
Examples of recent implementations
Puffin – a special basket for used masks
Environmental pollution, including the seas and oceans, has increased significantly as a result of the pandemic. It is estimated that about 1,5 billion masks went into the Earth’s water resources last year. Above all, they pose a serious threat to animals. Hence the inspiration to give the invention a name and design that will remind about this important problem. The container has been designed so as to allow the erasers to be torn off before throwing away the disposable mask, and thus to facilitate waste segregation. The device is dedicated to public, open and closed spaces. The invention is ready for mass production.
The most important goals of the Acceleration Program are:
- Clearly define milestones, team requirements and progress benefits;
- Greater control over the timeliness of work and the next steps in cooperation with the team;
- Marketing layer – clear establishment of the development path at the stage of cooperation talks.
For the purposes of the Program, the website http://medihub.umed.pl was also launched, where there is an application form encouraging to join the MediHUB innovation ecosystem, the calendar of CIiTT events, and an outline of the Acceleration Program in the form of a graphically transparent guide.
The MediHUB Acceleration Program is a living process that results in the implementation of products on the market. Below are some examples of solutions that have used this path and have successfully moved from idea to commercialization.
Source: Life Science 01/2022