Healing Healthcare Through Technology?
Which topics do you fund and support in your Digital Health programs?" is a common question when meeting new corporate partners and startups. The answer is mostly: "Topics that make a societal impact - and benefit our partners in securing patient care."
Health is a cornerstone of our mission to build a livable future - with many challenges to be tackled. As an innovation hub, we focus on the topic of “healing healthcare through technology”: Technological innovations, which support our corporate healthcare partners in terms of patient care and shortage of skilled healthcare workers.
But Germany still lags in health sector digitization: ranking 16th out of 17 in the Digital Health Index. And not because a shortage of innovative ideas – but often, because the connection between startups and healthcare corporates with strict regulations and daily patient business is not coming naturally.
Hardly any sector offers as few integration opportunities for relevant startups - even though it relies on their innovations to remain viable for the future.
The complexity of the market requires more than just technical feasibility: Successful companies are those that take the interests of all market participants into account right from the start and receive support from business and politics.
Therefore, we’re working closely with corporate partners, experts and startups, to identify needs and current topics to bring both worlds together.
Current Hot Topics in Healthcare
1. Elder Care
The security of care for an aging population is closely linked to the shortage of skilled workers. Additionally, the tasks that need to be completed within the available time are daunting, with documentation and bureaucracy consuming about 30% of working hours.
Startups like our community member Dexter Health, which developed a "Siri for nursing," provide innovative solutions by allowing documentation via voice assistants, which can be integrated into any documentation software. The result: reduced administrative workload on healthcare professionals, ensuring care security and bridging gaps in service.
Another great example is Icho from our recently graduated startup program: They offer a guideline-compliant therapeutic hardware solutions – their therapy ball - paired with a smart therapy system for neurological impairments like dementia - supporting elderly in preventing or improving neurological diseases and supporting healthcare professionals in their therapeutic work.
2. Mental Health
According to the Federal Ministry of Labor, the number of sick days due to mental illness has more than doubled since 2012, reaching 132 million days in 2022. So mental illnesses are not just a "personal issue", but a significant societal concern.
Besides playing a critical role in bridging long wait times or complementing therapies – technical solutions can also help to detect risk factors earlier or relief bureaucratic tasks:
Our portfolio team spexa, “the x-ray for companies” supports companies and their employees with their company health index, considering workload, wellbeing etc. of a company and departments to detect and prevent stress and potential risk factors.
Alumni team Lucoyo – Short for ‘Let us Connect You’ - offers a SaaS solution for psychotherapists outsourcing bureaucratic tasks, and thereby allowing more time for what truly matters: treating patients.
3. FemTech
In recent years, there has been significant progress in female health. The male body as the medical norm is being questioned, studies are being revisited, and the public is becoming aware of emerging issues:
This month, for example, it became public that tampons contain heavy metals. This contamination stems from the cotton production process, highlighting a shocking oversight in the regulation of female hygiene products – with unknown effects.
Another example: Medical solutions for female conditions often aim to control the problem without considering quality of life. For instance, pelvic floor dysfunction treatments like pessaries solve the medical issue but severely restrict patients.
Health program Alumni Yeda has developed a unique solution for an inflatable and therefore customized pessary – the “bra for the pelvic floor” – offering instant relief instead and option for training, instead of covering the symptoms.
BRYCK approach and offerings towards solving these challenges:
Startup support for teams with Healthtech Solutions
With our BRYCK Startup programs, we support early-stage teams with technical solutions for these and other urgent topics in healthcare. Learn more about our recently graduated batch of Startups from our Health Booster program supported by EWG - Essener Wirtschaftsförderung, below.
Co-Innovation with Industry Partner: Health Hub
Our recently established Innovation Center for Digital health with Universitymedicine Essen & 10xD helps to implement these innovations into the German health market to tackle the healthcare industry challenges like ensuring & improving security of supply or countering the shortage of skilled workers by
- tailored startup solutions to the partners individual needs
- dedicated corporate challenges & venture client programs
- connecting relevant players from the healthcare ecosystem, economy & politics
If you’re interested in joining the Health Innovation Ecosystem & peer-to-peer exchange, contact me via Philippa.koehnk@bryck.com
ICHÓ
ichó is revolutionizing therapy for individuals with neurological conditions like dementia and stroke. At the heart of the solution is the innovative ichó therapy ball—an interactive tool that not only enhances cognition and motor skills but also tracks patient data in real-time.
LUCOYO
The digital consultation assistant for psychotherapists. Lucoyo developed a software for psychotherapist - saving them time for organizational matters and creating more time for patient care - which is urgently needed.
YEDA
Developed 'the first bra for the pelvic floor' - supporting the health of +800 Mio. women worldwide, who suffer from weak pelvic floors, uncontrolled bladder, pain, sexual dysfunctions and shame.
VITROFLUIDX
The easy-to-use, fully integrated and adaptive organ-on-a-chip platform. Vitrofluidix is developing an innovative organ-on-a-chip solution - simulating human organs for research purposes and eliminating animal testing in the long run!