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In collaboration with Selfapy, our cooperation partner in DiGA for chronic pain, the Healthcare Hub presented the topic of DiGA and highlighted what is important in cooperations and where there is potential for improvement in the still fairly new market. It became clear that only if manufacturers and health insurers can establish smooth and customer-friendly processes DiGA can make a significant contribution to the health of the population.

The conclusion of the E-Health Salon on topics such as the current status quo, licensing and cooperation opportunities in the DiGA area was clear: Although success stories such as Selfapy have already been written, the German healthcare system still has many lessons to learn. The processes around DiGA must be further optimized in order to make the digital applications available to patients more quickly.

The E-Health Salon not only offered the opportunity to gather important insights, but also enabled the establishment of new contacts, interesting discussions and the exchange of valuable information. This once again made the event a highlight for us.

We are eagerly looking forward to the next event next year and are looking forward to sharing more exciting developments and insights in healthcare.

Venture capital, public funding programs, grants, guarantees and participations – which financing options are suitable for my project? Who can advise on life science startups? And which competitions are suitable for my startup? Anyone who starts a business has many and specific questions. The online portal startupbw.de provides the right answers.

The funding offered by the Baden-Württemberg state government for the development of innovative technologies and business models has been continuously expanded and further developed in recent years. The programs address different target groups in all phases of development: from the pre-startup phase to the growth phase to the internationalization of a company. In order to make it easier for founders to find suitable support services, startupbw.de has evolved from a campaign page to an information and communication platform.  

Pfizer Healthcare Hub at startupbw 

As an active player in the Freiburg startup ecosystem and a B2B partner of Start-up BW, the Pfizer Healthcare Hub is represented on the online portal in many ways – for example, in connection with the BadenCampus Startup Lab or as a partner of the Smart Green Accelerator's GROW program.

"With the online portal, we are making a contribution to communicating the extensive range of funding offers even better and establishing contact opportunities between the founders and the numerous players involved in regional startup and startup funding," says Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut, Minister of Economic Affairs, Labour and Tourism.

At this year's ceremony, the virtual reality simulation training developed by Pfizer in cooperation with 3spin Learning was awarded a Brandon Hall Award. The coveted award was given to Pfizer and 3spin Learning for the successful use of virtual environments in learning applications ("Best Use of Virtual Worlds for Learning"): "Pfizer's hands-on VR stroke training in the virtual world '3spin Learning' revolutionizes medical education," the Brandon Hall Group said on its website about the decision. 

The training was developed by the "Medical Education Transfer" department together with the startup 3spin Learning and Prof. Dr. Sobesky as well as Prof. Dr. Pfeilschifter from the University Hospital Frankfurt and was used for the first time in May 2023 at the Stroke Unit Starter Course.  

Servet Yilmaz, Manager Customer Education, initiated the cooperation with 3spin. "We are very pleased about this recognition. For us, the award is a nice confirmation that it is always worthwhile to look for new innovative solutions." 

We are delighted about the award and congratulate everyone involved on this great success! 

In bright sunshine, Alina Grebe and Günther Kornacker welcomed the approximately 130 guests of this year's DemoDay at the BadenCampus in Breisach. Dr. Simon Bretschneider, Business Analyst at the Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovations SPRIND, first spoke about different financing models for innovations. A highlight of the evening were the pitches of the startups of the BadenCampus Startup Accelerator:  With sophisticated presentations, vivid prototypes and well thought-out business models, the founders from the fields of Energy & Cleantech, Smart City & Industry and Life Science & Healthcare received a lot of applause and not only gave insights into their young companies, but also impressively presented the innovative strength of the region.

The first place of the jury and also the audience award went to the startup nanoshape, a spin-off from the Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT). The team led by Litsy Hüschelrath and Patrick Doll has developed a patented nanoshape technology that refines medical implants made of titanium in such a way that their surface has an antibacterial effect. The two founders were happy about the prize money of €10,000.

5 rules for successful DTx collaborations

Recently, Pfizer launched its first DiGA: "Selfapy's Online Course for Chronic Pain", which was created in collaboration with Selfapy. Based on these experiences, Thorsten Mintel formulated five rules for successful cooperation between a corporation and a start-up in his keynote speech, which can also be applied to other DTx cooperations:

1. Set clear goals and expectations and make success measurable!
2. Set the legal framework in advance!
3. Show flexibility and openness and establish an open and effective communication at eye level!
4. Provide the necessary resources!
5. Be patient!

Peter Neske, Innovation Lead at Pfizer, was also on site. At an atmospheric afterparty with a food truck and DJ, the participants were able to network further in a relaxed atmosphere and DemoDay 2023 came to a successful conclusion.