Smart-Up Lab 2019: the Neapolitan edition

From initial idea to business concept, this is how EIT Health Smart-Up Lab programme might shortly be described. On 19 July 2019, at University of Naples ‘Federico II’, the ‘Idea Presentation’- as part of Smart-Up Lab project – took place.

The Smart-Up Lab is an international E-Lab programme organised in parallel with three of EIT Health’s academic Partners – the Medical University of Łódź (Poland), the University of Naples (Italy) and the University of Tartu (Estonia). The main idea of this project is to spread the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. All participants of this programme – students, PhD candidates, researchers and entrepreneurs have different educational backgrounds and are from various disciplines such as medicine, life sciences, economics, IT or other similar fields. During this time, they have the possibility to learn skills related to business creation concepts, receive mentoring and obtain valuable advices of their entrepreneurial concepts.

The Smart-Up Lab 2019 project is the third edition of this EIT Health programme and has been divided into three stages: introduction to entrepreneurship, idea development, and product maturation. The ‘Idea Presentation’- which took place on 19 July 2019 in Naples, was a competition between five Italian teams: Help Care, Biodesign, Synthesis, Matcha and IHI. All these groups presented their business concepts in front of academics, professionals and experts. The main aim of this competition was to challenge students of the EIT Health Smart-Up Lab to assist in changing the health industry by applying the ideas and knowledge they have obtained during classroom learning.

The eventual winners of this contest were Matcha, and the team has been officially invited by the Medical University of Łódź – the lead Partner of Smart-Up Lab to participate in the ‘Forge of Talents’, an international event, which will be held in Łódź on 17 October 2019. During the July event, the University of Naples was also hosting FutureMed, a Polish team who were the winners of the 2019 Smart-Up Lab in Łódź. The group had the opportunity to present their ideas in front of a group of experts.

EIT Health Smart-Up is more than just an E-Lab programme. The cooperation between various groups of participants allows integrating the knowledge triangle that exists between education, research and innovation. In addition, it leads to building a new generation of entrepreneurs with an innovative mind-set, and who wish to foster an overall improvement in healthcare.

Partners who are involved in this programme are: University of Naples Federico II (UNINA), GE Healthcare, MADoPA, the Medical University of Łódź and the University of Tartu.

If you want to learn more about EIT Health E-Lab programmes please contact Joanna Baranowska.