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Press and announcements
Innocens wins EIT Health Wild Card Programme
The EIT Health Wild Card Programme has crowned Innocens, an AI-empowered neonatal ICU support system, as this year’s victor. Following closely, runner-up Gate2Brain offers a transformative Central Nervous System (CNS) drug delivery method, promising enhanced efficacy with fewer side effects.
The Belgian start-up Innocens BV aims to create a predictive tool using AI and edge computing to enable early detection of sepsis in newborns. Innocens was founded by neonatologist David Van Laere, who had been searching for ways to better detect the risk of sepsis in premature infants.
“The Wild Card- programme of EIT Health was a unique and intense experience that helped us bring our innovative solution closer to the market. Being crowned as a winner is the recognition of years of collaboration by a dedicated team of healthcare professionals, engineers, and software developers united in their mission to improve the care of vulnerable patients.”
David Van Laere, Neonatal Intensive Care Specialist, Founder & CEO Innocens BV
Addressing the healthcare gap that had previously seen 3.6% of EU children with unmet medical needs in 2021⁽¹⁾, the Wild Card Programme shines a spotlight on groundbreaking pediatric healthcare innovations. This initiative gains importance against the backdrop of the European Commission’s recent launch on 26 April 2023 to revise the EU’s pharmaceutical legislation, which aims to further integrate scientific and technological advances into the development of medicines tailored for children and rare diseases⁽²⁾.
With the aim to reduce this gap, Wild Card, has partnered with Sant Joan de Deu Hospital (SJD) Barcelona Children’s Hospital and its innovation hub i4KIDS, to accelerate pediatric centric innovations with the potential to make a real impact on children’s lives. The programme, which celebrates its 6th edition, pairs early-stage start-ups with the resources they need to validate their problem-solution for a specific health challenge each year, with this year’s challenge being children’s health.
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