Tangent: new partnership with HSE to advance digital innovation in healthcare

Posted on: 25 March 2022

Tangent, Trinity College Dublin’s Ideas Workspace, today announced the launch of a strategic partnership with the Health Service Executive (HSE) Digital Transformation Group. The move will see the HSE collaborate with Tangent on two digital health accelerator programmes hosted by Tangent and funded by EIT Health: InterSeed, and Healthy & Active Ageing. These competitive accelerators are designed to advance breakthrough digital innovations in pharma and life sciences, and smart ageing respectively.

The HSE Digital Transformation Group will assist successful start-ups emerging from these competitive accelerator programmes with access to a digital living lab; a user-centric research methodology and platform for sensing, prototyping, validating, and refining complex solutions in real-world health contexts. The Tangent partnership will enhance the HSE group’s ‘Shift Left, Stay Left’ strategy, which aims to use technology to keep people healthy and well at home, enabling those with chronic conditions to manage themselves, while also helping patients transition smoothly from acute care to a community setting, before finally returning home.

Healthy & Active Ageing (HAA) supports the creation and validation of new connect health services and products developed by start-ups promoting longevity and active ageing and addressing the new challenges presented by Europe’s ageing population. 10 European start-ups will commence the accelerator in August 2022, which will o?er hands-on mentorship to the selected teams, plus education on the European regulatory environment and market barriers.

Commencing in September 2022, InterSeed will bridge the gap between start-ups, industry, and patients whose needs are not being addressed effectively by new innovations. It will recruit 10 European healthcare start-ups whose digital solutions can help life science and pharma companies to put the patient first. InterSeed will provide start-ups with structured training on how to expedite and scale their technology and the market potential of their solutions by engaging more actively with industry players on their digital transformation journey.

Both accelerator programmes are funded by EIT Health, an EU-funded, not-for-profit community, with a remit to nurture health innovation throughout Europe. As Europe’s largest health innovation network, EIT Health unites experts on health and ageing to foster an optimal environment for new ideas to flourish. EIT Health partners with industry, universities, start-ups, healthcare providers, and governments leading to the acceleration of new healthcare products and services destined for market.

Prof. Martin Curley, Director of Digital Transformation and Open Innovation at the Health Service Executive (HSE), said:

The challenge to transform the Irish healthcare system is too large to be left to the HSE alone. By combining the intellect, assets, and energy of digital health start-ups, industry leaders and academic organisations such as Tangent through this partnership, we plan to enable digital maturity for the Irish healthcare system, while also furthering our ‘shift left, stay left’ model of patient care.

Ken Finnegan, CEO of Tangent, added:

I am delighted to announce this partnership today, which is a ringing endorsement of government, academia, industry, and start-ups working together to co-develop healthcare solutions which improve patient care and reduce costs. It will see the best start-ups from across Europe receive access to our national healthcare infrastructure.

Leslie Harris, Managing Director at EIT Health Ireland-UK, said:

EIT Health’s funded bootcamps enable our partners, such as Tangent, to accelerate start-ups that have potential to make a positive impact on citizens and patients throughout Europe. We strongly support Tangent’s commitment to collaborate with the HSE on the InterSeed and Healthy & Active Ageing bootcamps. This will add significant value for participating European start-ups, with clear pathways to test and validate their ideas within Ireland, creating opportunities to scale internationally.

For more information on Tangent’s InterSeed and Healthy & Active Ageing (HAA) accelerator programmes, please contact: Breandán Goss, European Accelerator Manager at Tangent, Trinity’s Ideas Workspace or click here.