
Promoting collaboration between corporations and startups at La Nave’s Innovation Week
On the occasion of World Health Day, between 17 and 21 April we are collaborating with La Nave, Madrid City Council’s innovation centre, to celebrate Health Innovation Week. The aim of the event is to promote projects and startups designed to transform the health sector through innovative solutions that benefit patients, professionals and health administrations.
How Health Week went
Over the course of five days, we took part in different directed activities in which we learned about projects and startups that are providing innovative solutions in the area of health, and we debated in various talks about mobile applications, wearables, medical devices, new methodologies and existing scientific research to improve people’s quality of life.
Among this programme of activities, the Demo Day eHealth stood out. In this session, the health startups of the 5th La Nave Acceleration Programme presented their business models to an expert jury, receiving feedback from potential customers, partners and investors, while also facilitating the creation of new collaborations and business opportunities. Our head of innovation at Cinfa, Julio Sánchez Mariñas, was on the jury on this occasion together with Diego Velasco, Head of Innovation at IRYCIS; Albert Palay, executive director at Idealmedic; and Ignacio Prieto, associate director of funds at Clave Capital.
Among all the proposals submitted, the jury selected two startups: Ownmed Innovation, for the development of innovative solutions for ostomised patients; and Pathology Factory, focused on the manufacture of hyper-realistic 3D models for the education and training of surgeons. The two projects will move on to the next phase and will be able to take part in the LN Meeting 2023, the final event of the 5th La Nave Acceleration Programme.
Another outstanding event was Health Barbac0d1ng, a hackathon in which participants tested their creativity and skills in solving different problems and challenges, which ended with a networking event.
This was an activity aimed at those studying pharmacy and other health disciplines, and was developed with the objective of stimulating their interest in the field of innovation. The participants worked in teams using the “design thinking” methodology to respond to the challenge launched by Cinfa as to how to improve adherence to medicines for children and the elderly. With this challenge, we are seeking new perspectives in relation to personalising treatments to the needs of patients and the increasing chronicity of diseases, two of the focuses of Cinfanext, our open innovation platform.
In addition to these two key activities, Health Innovation Week allowed us to meet potential future collaborators and projects that fit with our innovation strategy at Cinfa. The different points of view of entrepreneurs and startups shared at events of this kind are a unique opportunity for transformation and modernisation, helping us to address people’s growing health needs.
Learn more about La Nave
La Nave is Madrid City Council’s main innovation centre, open to any citizen, student, entrepreneur, investor, large corporation, institution or innovative professional that has the attitude and potential to respond to the city’s challenges.
It puts on daily training activities involving new technologies and methodologies, offering a workspace and programmes for startups adapted to their needs, and an ecosystem of entrepreneurship and innovation consolidated at national and international levels.