Health Tech

Hub Styria

The European reference region for “Active and healthy aging” (AHA) of Styria unites about 30 companies from science, industry and politics. For the corporate call, they were represented by Johann Harer, then CEO of Human Technology Styria and experts from Joanneum Research Health, Sanlas Holding and Merkur Versicherung.

The winning bid was “Elly,” a development by the Graz-based start-up Opus Novo. Elly is a small device that gives people in need of care safety when leaving their bed at night by lighting up in a way that can be individually adjusted. At the same time, the caregiver is notified via an associated app – both a great relief for persons in need of care and their relatives or caregivers.

As a prize, in addition to a HTS membership for one year, Opus Novo received the participation in the four-month “Acceleration program Techhouse” in the Innovation Hub Unicorn as well as a HealthcareMovers® benchmarking report, thus services with a total value of around €50,000.

Lebenshilfen Soziale Dienste was looking for different approaches to bring health knowledge to people who have little or no access to the usual information platforms, such as people with disabilities or the elderly. The Know-Center has significant experience and knowledge in this area. Based on their extensive expertise in the areas of Artificial Intelligence, Human-Machine Communication, Big Data and Data Driven Business, it develops customised learning solutions for different target groups.  “The expertise and the very human-centric approach of the Know-Center, despite all the technology, fits very well with our requirements for an innovation partnership,” said Sabine Ettema, Innovation Manager at Lebenshilfe. The foundation is now being laid for future collaboration.

“Smart medical applications for clinical users” was the topic Kapsch BusinessCom had defined for its call in 2022. The Italian company Artiness has indeed developed something very smart: 3D visualisations of the heart to be operated on enable teams of doctors to plan possible steps before the operation and to discuss them in the team, thus achieving greater safety. “This is a solution that makes the work of the clinical user easier and increases patient safety”, said Michael Baumgartner from K-Businesscom.

The winners benefited from workshops with experts from Kapsch BusinessCom and further cooperation opportunities – in addition to prize money of €2,000.