Moebio: greater impact on the local and international ecosystem

Moebio is the Biocat training and talent initiative to promote entrepreneurship and innovation in the field of health. Created in 2013, Moebio offers several short and long-term training programs and is considered one of the top accelerators in Europe according to rankings by Digitalhealth.careers, Mobile World Capital, Tech EU and HealthStartup.

Before the CRAASH Barcelona program was launched in 2018 (see right-hand column), Moebio had only one long-term program, Design Health Barcelona (d·HEALTH Barcelona), one of the four European programs inspired by the biodesign methodology of Stanford University. The d·HEALTH Barcelona students complete two months of clinical immersion in hospitals to identify, in situ, real unmet clinical needs which have a potential to be converted into new products or services. Throughout the program students experience a full cycle of innovation, from identifying the business idea to designing and prototyping a viable solution and searching for funding. At the same time, they acquire knowledge in medicine, business development, and design thinking and creative leadership skills from 70 international professors.

In 2017, the fourth class of healthcare innovators graduated from d·HEALTH Barcelona. They presented their projects in public for the first time at the graduation ceremony held on 9 November at Movistar Centre in Barcelona.
Some of the emerging projects included telemedicine to diagnose eye diseases; a test to improve the diagnosis of neck problems in primary care, and a solution to minimize children’s fear of needles, all of which continue to be developed once the program has ended.

Increasing the impact on the entire ecosystem

d·HEALTH Barcelona impacts more than 1,100 people every year in the Catalan healthcare ecosystem, including hospital and healthcare staff, patients, mentors, venture capitalists, research and technology centers and other key stakeholders. During their clinical immersion at Hospital Clínic, Institut Guttmann and Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, the students of d·HEALTH Barcelona 2017 identified 970 unmet clinical needs.

To further expand this impact to more ecosystem agents, it was announced that by the end of 2017 a new collaborating hospital, Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus, would be included in the program. The students of the 2018 edition have already had their immersion in this new hospital, specifically in the Cardiology Unit.

In addition, in 2017 the d·HEALTH students visited Eurecat, who gave a presentation of the projects they collaborate with in health-related areas and hospitals, research centers and companies.

In the 2017 edition of d·HEALTH, the students also collaborated with Infonomia. This innovation consulting firm, with almost 20 years of experience, inaugurated its new headquarters with an open day for various agents in the national and international arena: during the day, the d·HEALTH students acted as facilitators, leading the various work groups.

International exchange

During the graduation ceremony, the students of d·HEALTH Barcelona 2017 received feedback from a jury formed by Toby Reid, director of Biocity Nottingham and keynote speaker of the event, who shared his advice on what start-ups should and shouldn’t do to improve their chances of success; Joy Cürten, Business Creation Manager of EIT Health – a European consortium of which d·HEALTH Barcelona is a member; and Markus Wilhelms, CEO of Mowoot, one of the start-ups that emerged from previous editions of d·HEALTH Barcelona. Tympany also shared their experience, a company which emerged from the BioInnovate Ireland program, with whom the d·HEALTH Barcelona students collaborated and carried out international exchanges under EIT Health. Students from other countries attended the graduation event and participated in an experience exchange day with the d·HEALTH Barcelona students.

International mobility has been a key element for d·HEALTH Barcelona since joining, in 2016, the Innovation Fellowships project of EIT Health, the largest health consortium in Europe. Students in the Biocat program carry out exchanges with those from the programs BioInnovate Ireland, of the University of Galway (Ireland), Oxford Biodesign Fellowship (UK) and Clinical Innovation Fellowship, of the Karolinska Institute (Sweden), based on the Stanford Biodesign methodology as is the Catalan program.

Thus, in collaboration with the Karolinska Institute, some of the d·HEALTH Barcelona students visited Stockholm in October to share experiences and to learn about this healthcare ecosystem, while others traveled to Rotterdam (Holland) to discuss their project with experts in the field of ophthalmology.

In November, d·HEALTH Barcelona students, together with participants from BioInnovate Ireland, Oxford Biodesign Fellowship and Clinical Innovation Fellowship (KTH Stockholm), traveled to Stockholm to participate in the EIT Health Innovation Fellowship Alumni Showcase, a pitch competition organized by EIT Health, where the d·HEALTH projects took away half the prizes: in total, Catalan projects received 7,000 of the 15,000 euros up for grabs.