Silesian University of Technology joins EIT Health network as Associate Partner
Silesian University of Technology along with its European HealthTech Innovation Centre (EHTIC), a state-of-the-art R&D has joined the EIT Health network as an associate partner.
EIT Health, part of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union is one of the largest European public-private partnerships in healthcare innovation, with a mission to build an ecosystem that enables the development of healthcare for the future, so that European citizens can live longer and healthier lives. The InnoStars cluster, one of the eight geographical areas of EIT Health, covers half of Europe, including Italy, Poland, Hungary, and Portugal, as well as 9 additional countries in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe included in the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme, qualified by the European Innovation Scoreboard as moderate innovators.
The partnership opens up new opportunities for the polish university to foster international collaboration with major innovation hubs, already EIT Health partners such as Sorbonne University, GE Healthcare, Karolinska Institute, and Philips.
As a new Associate Partner, Silesian University of Technology will work towards promoting entrepreneurship, innovation, and education in the domain of healthcare, healthy living, and active ageing in Poland and beyond. The European HealthTech Innovation Centre (EHTIC) is a state-of-the-art R&D centre operating in Zabrze at the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering of the Silesian University of Technology, conducting interdisciplinary research, service, information, training, and promotion activities in the field of healthcare technologies. Launched in 2021, the Centre has been equipped with the world-class technology, software and highly specialized labs and workshops.
The Silesian University of Technology is among several other new partners that have joined the EIT Health community Network recently, including medtech company Advice Pharma in Italy and SmartHumed, a digital healthcare management service provider in Hungary.
“One of the strategic goals of Silesian University of Technology is to build a business ecosystem by organizing the collaboration of various actors contributing to the field of health technologies, and by creating, developing and implementing innovative medical technologies to improve disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Joining EIT Health as an Associate Partner opens up additional opportunities to carry out our mission,” said Prof. Marek Gzik, head of European HealthTech Innovation Centre
“We are thrilled to welcome Silesian University of Technology as a new Associate Partner in the EIT Health network,” said Joanna Broy, Ecosystem Lead for Poland, EIT Health. “As part of this collaboration, we work towards a shared vision of improving healthcare in Poland and the whole of Europe through innovation, with the end goal of demonstrating meaningful positive impact on society. We look forward to the fruitful outputs of our new partnership.”
EIT Health and Poland – a fruitful relationship
According to the recent EIT Health study called “InnoStars Innovation Index” Poland is a strategic location for EIT Health, and the country’s healthcare start-up ecosystem is emerging as one of the most promising in the region and beyond. It is one of the four countries in the InnoStars region that has a dedicated Ecosystem Lead and a partner network of leading enterprises, universities, and research institutes. Existing EIT Health partners in the country include the Medical University of Łódź, the Medical University of Gdansk, University of Warsaw, the Łódź University of Technology and the Łukasiewicz Research Network – PORT (Polish Centre for Technology Development).
Europe’s leading healthcare innovation network has invested around €4.7 million in boosting innovation in Poland. EIT Health has also been committed to supporting Polish start-ups: 28 of them have received around €600K worth of financial, mentoring, training, and networking assistance. The support and visibility they obtained allowed them to gain additional funding – for an amount of ca. €20 million – and to attract external partners for their projects.
Poland’s healthcare start-up ecosystem is buzzing with success stories and is rapidly gaining recognition as one of the most promising in Europe. Dozens of teams have benefited from the financial and matchmaking opportunities provided by EIT Health. One of them is UVera, a company that aims to provide natural, healthy, and safe UV protection solutions with a decrease in negative environmental impact on the planet in the zero-waste process.
Another successful start-up, Brainscan, has developed an AI-powered brain images interpretation solution for digital imaging diagnostics, improving interpretation speed and accuracy. Meanwhile, REMMEDVR is making waves with its VR technology that provides remote vision therapy, while UnitDoseOne aims at revolutionizing drug preparation with its robotized device that automatically creates individual doses for patients.
The Silesian University of Technology is among several other new partners that have joined the EIT Health community Network recently, including medtech company Advice Pharma in Italy and SmartHumed, a digital healthcare management service provider in Hungary.
About The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)
The EIT is Europe’s largest innovation ecosystem bringing together close to 3,000 partners from top business, research and education organisations across Europe in over 80 innovation hubs. The EIT strengthens Europe’s ability to innovate by powering solutions to pressing global challenges and by nurturing entrepreneurial talent to create sustainable growth and skilled jobs in Europe. The EIT is an EU body and an integral part of Horizon Europe, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. The Institute supports dynamic pan-European partnerships, EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities, composed of leading companies, research labs and universities each dedicated to solving a pressing global challenge, from climate change to health, to renewable energy. For more information visit https://eit.europa.eu/ .
About EIT Health
EIT Health is a network of best-in-class health innovators with approximately 130 partners and is supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union. We collaborate across borders to deliver new solutions enabling European citizens to live longer, healthier lives. As Europeans tackle the challenge of increasing chronic diseases and multi-morbidity and seek to realise the opportunities that technology offers to move beyond conventional approaches to treatment, prevention and healthy lifestyles, we need thought leaders, innovators and efficient ways to bring innovative healthcare solutions to market. EIT Health addresses these needs. We connect all relevant healthcare players across European borders – making sure to include all sides of the “knowledge triangle” so that innovation can happen at the intersection of research, education and business for the benefit of citizens. For more information visit: www.eithealth.eu
About EIT Health InnoStars
The InnoStars cluster is one of the eight geographical areas of EIT Health. It covers half of Europe, including Poland, Hungary, Italy, and Portugal, as well as additional regions included in the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme – the Baltic States, Croatia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Greece and Romania. This is a group of countries qualified by the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) as moderate innovators. InnoStars is focused on promoting entrepreneurship, innovation and education in the domain of healthcare, healthy living and active ageing in the region and closing the gap between regions that are leaders in innovation and those regions which are progressing. In Poland, EIT Health InnoStars is working with the following partners: Medical University of Lodz, Medical University of Gdansk, the Łódź University of Technology , University of Warsaw and Łukasiewicz – PORT Polish Technology Development Centre.
About EIT Regional Innovation Scheme Programme (EIT RIS)
The EIT Regional Innovation Scheme (EIT RIS) was created by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) to close the gap between regions that are leaders in innovation and those regions which are progressing. It aims to incubate the regions in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe, discovering their unique innovation assets and to engage local innovators to participate in pan-European programmes. In the field of healthcare, the programme has been developing since 2016, and it is coordinated by EIT Health InnoStars. It incorporates 14 EIT Health Hubs located in 13 countries across Eastern, Central and Southern Europe. In Poland the local Hub participating in the implementation of this Programme is Klaster Life Science.
EIT Health: Together for healthy lives in Europe
For more information visit: www.eithealth.eu.
