The 3 WINNERS of this year's SHS Booster Program:

 

                                               Clever.Care AG I Limula I VAY            

 

                                                   CONGRATULATIONS!🎉🎉

 

Together with the Science and Technology Office Seoul and as part of the Smarter Healthcare project Swiss Healthcare Startups helped Clever.Care, Limula Biotech and Vay to prepare to enter the South Korean market through the tailor made SHS Booster Program!

All the pitch videos are still available below, a big shout-out to all the people involved and your contribution to the SHS Booster Program 2021.

Thanks for voting, to inspiring pitch videos and great participants!

Since the beginning of August our three Booster Program winners, Limula, VAY and Clever.Care are attending three digital sessions as a preparation for their Booster Program exchange in South Korea. The Science and Technology Office Seoul together with Lighting Up Ventures have put together an excellent program to best prepare the startups for their visit to South Korea.

• a small intense and personal program focused on preparing participating startups on international market entry in Korea and beyond
• in addition to group sessions, each startup receives a substantial amount of one-on-one time to go into more detail on specific issues they are facing
• Lighting Up Ventures and Swissnex Seoul (STO) are also assisting in performing research and making introductions to further the startups goals

Unfortunately, the circumstances didn't allow a visit to Korea yet, therefore, the online meetings were deepened and continued, 1-1 coaching sessions have taken place, conducting local research and connecting the startups with relevant teams and executives, such as Novartis Biome Korea, Samsung Investment, Korea Telecom and Korean hospitals and validating specific hypothesis for the South Korean market.

Thus, needs have been evaluated, important contacts have been made and new goals have been established. We will provide you from time to time with updates about further happenings and achievements regarding the SHS Booster Program and of course inform you if the journey for the startups will lead to Korea after all, period unfortunately uncertain. 

In excellent collaboration with the swissnex network, we are convinced that we have found an exciting and interesting new place to go to for this year's SHS Booster Program winners. South Korea's success in handling the pandemic has attracted the interest of entrepreneurs from around the world and the establishment of a startup innovation hub in the last couple of years is remarkable.

 

The program offers

The finalists will get to know the South Korean Healthcare market more closely and establish connections for further research and trials as a first step to penetrate the South Korean market. 

• Insights in the Korean healthcare sector and the local startup ecosystem with various meetings, workshops and visits

• Korea is a perfect hub for further expansions

• The camp opens the opportunity for first introduction and concrete follow-ups on site

• Feedbacks from experts/users on the specific technologies helping to adjust the product to the new market needs and open opportunities for R&D partnerships and test phases

• The possibility of recruitment of high skilled engineers and applied scientists

• Expertise in manufacturing and efficient procedures

• 95% of population embraces technology and welcomes tech innovation

• Korea is a small country and Seoul is the heart of a vibrant startup ecosystem, most of the activities and events happen in the Capital area

 

Insights from our partners

South Korea provides an excellent testbed infrastructure for new innovative products and services onto the homogenous patient pool. In the smart healthcare cluster, a smart hospital with the capacity of over 600 beds will be built along with R&D infrastructures, living-lab in which health data is gathered through IoT and wearable devices worn by the residents of the city, rehabilitation centers using VR and robotics, and many more. In addition to well-established big data usage platforms in South Korea, under the Smart City Law, the medical big data will be accessed more conveniently. Many foreign companies are welcome and are currently involved in discussions with the city of Busan to enter the cluster and collaborate.

In Smart Hospitals in Korea, the latest technology such as 5G network, artificial intelligence, robotics, IoT and so on, are used. They enable the exchange of high definition medical images between departments in real-time thus remote consultations can occur if necessary. Telesurgeries have significantly reduced time lag by up to 100 times so the precision is reaching another level. Robots carry and deliver instruments so nosocomial infection risks are reduced. In addition to simply manipulating the facilities of the patient rooms such as curtains, windows, temperature and so on, patients in isolation ward can now welcome visitors via the virtual reality system.

 

Get prepared

If you would like to have a deeper understanding for the Korean digital Healthcare Sector, have a look at the Webinar which took place on 24 November 2020.

• Webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/-usfplG5xYj7oefLtXEoVWvgyf1gq4TIao5pM0K_Rq-XqoWOM3o4NvGVGMK6YKsC.qbunoLQc_iRMpSOm?startTime=1606204887000

Requirements

You are welcome to apply if you are…

...an early up to pre-series B startup

...adding value to the Swiss healthcare ecosystem  

...and you do have an MVP with identified initial KPIs.

 

All applications meeting the qualification requirements will be reviewed by a panel of experts that will select the finalists. The finalists will then submit a final pitch video, which will be published in May via the SHS platforms. A public audience will vote and select 5 finalists. The winners will then be selected by STO and the SHS Board and announced in June.

The Booster Programm 2021 will take place during one to two weeks in October 2021. 

 

Thanks again to the international, interdisciplinary expert jury that evaluated all applications and selected the finalists:

- Dominik Schürmann, Innovation Manager, CSS
- Ivonne Bauer, Open Innovation Manager, Sanitas
- Caroline Oehri, Manager Commercial & Strategic Initiatives Europe Cluster I, Sandoz
- Dorian Ebneter, CEO, BV4
- Fabian Bamert, Start-up Finance, ZKB
- Heidrun Flaadt Cervini, Director of CASE BioMed, USI
- Olivier Philippe, Director of Business Development & Corporate Relations, Biopôle
-Seungjae Baek M.D., Ph.D., CMO, Hanmi Pharmaceuticals
- KyeHoon Park, Vice President, AJU IB INVESTMENT