With the endorsement of the ICT for Health Unit at the European Commission, TICBioMed organized a competition for rewarding the best eHealth solution 2012 produced by a European SME. The objective of the competition was to give visibility to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to attract customers, partners, and external capital. Eligible ICT solutions had to focus on the healthcare as well as active and healthy ageing markets.
The 2012 EU SME eHealth Competition award winners were announced during the recent eHealth Week in Copenhagen. The first prize was presented by Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission, and responsible for the Digital Agenda. It was awarded to Daintel, for its solution CIS that manages hospital intensive care units. CIS helps to reduce treatment costs, according to the vendor, up to 30%, while increasing patient safety and enables professionals to analyze the related clinical data. Daintel, a Danish company, claims a 50% market share in Denmark, and is now expanding to other European markets.
The second prize went to Medisana Space, a German company that develops medical apps for smartphones. These apps are medically certified, and work together with app-connected medical devices.
The third prize was awarded to Cetrea from Denmark, a developer of solutions managing all communication and coordination around the flow of patients within hospitals, improving overall productivity and patient safety. – Moltosenso (Italy), Cure4you (Denmark), and Ikiria (Spain) received an appreciation of their innovative solutions.
Out of the initial 97 European SMEs eligible to participate at the competition, 63 submitted a two page summary explaining the innovation and potential impact of their solutions. Based on this information, 28 companies were shortlisted for the finale. During that finale, the shortlisted nominees had the opportunity to promote their solution in front of a Jury of international eHealth stakeholders and sponsors: Claus F. Nielsen (Delta), Emma Garde (Sanofi), H. Stephen Lieber (HIMSS), Jari Renko (Helsinki Uusimaa Hospital Group), Jean Marc Bourez (Sanofi), Julien Martel (Alere France), Alex Molnar (Alere), and Tom Togsverd (DI ITEK). – The competition was sponsored by Sanofi, Alere, DICTACT, and the Continua Alliance.
In total, 16 associations across Europe provided support: Agoria (Belgium), Biopeople (Denmark), bioPmed (Italy), biosbbc (EU), Culminatum (Finland), DI ITEK (Denmark), Estonian HealthTech (Estonia), European Connected Health Alliance (EU), eVIA (Spain), ITB (Denmark), Latvian IT Cluster (Latvia), Personalized Prevention (the Netherlands), platinnEs (France), Stichting Digitalezorg (the Netherlands), TicSalut (Spain), and the WelfareTech Region (Denmark).
TICBioMed, the competition organizer, is a Spanish not-for-profit eHealth association. The cluster aims to provide value by supporting SMEs and other organizations to network, identify opportunities, and accelerate projects in the eHealth sector.