More than a hundred meetings to promote innovation in mental health at 4YFN

We closed the 4YFN with many business visits and possible future collaborations with key players in the fields of health, innovation and entrepreneurship.

The participation of the Network with its own stand and the high presence of national and international companies has opened the door to boost the knowledge of our groups in the innovation and health ecosystem. 

The TECSAM Network has closed the 2023 edition of 4 Years From Now with more than a hundred meetings and business visits and has sown the seeds of possible future collaborations and synergies with key players in the fields of health, innovation and entrepreneurship during the four days of the fair at the MWC. 

Thus, it was an opportunity to showcase all the expertise, know-how and scientific findings of the research groups members of the Network through the portfolio of innovative solutions in mental health, a tasting of all the science-based and quality research carried out in Catalonia. 

Two spin-offs promoted by member groups of the TECSAM Network also participated in this fair with their own stands: Logmeal from the Computer Vision and Machine Learning group of the University of Barcelona and Virmedex from the Health Technologies group (TECSALUT) of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). 

 

 

Networking: innovation and health  

4YFN has been a key meeting point to meet with some of the agents of the innovation and mental health ecosystem: some of the counterpart R+D+i networks, Xartec Salut and i4KIDS; some collaborators and partners, such as the Clúster de Salut Mental Catalunya (CSMC), Grupo DKV, Aimentia HealthTech or Medea Mind; and some institutions belonging to the Network, such as the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Research (VHIR), Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu (PSSJD) or Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Universitat de Barcelona. 

 

 

We also spent the four intense days of meetings visiting the stands of the two spin-offs in question and meeting with the researchers and entrepreneurs of both projects: Enric Verdaguero Jimeno, Marc Bolaños Solà and Silvia Cardona Ros from Logmeal and, on the other hand, Dani Tost, Núria Bonet Codina and Ariel Von Barnekow from Virmedex.  

 

         

 

Almost 800 startups from 35 countries and nearly 88,500 visitors have passed through the halls of 4YFN, the great technology event for startups and businesses of the MWC held in the city of Barcelona between 27 February and 3 March, numbers that have allowed the TECSAM Network to come into contact with potential actors, from companies and relevant entities in the sector to service providers, investors and accelerators. 

 

Digital health gains traction at 4YFN  

In this edition, health innovations have acquired an unprecedented prominence, capturing the attention of all attendees and agents who strolled through Hall 8.1, the legendary pavilion where the 4YFN has been held since 2014. In this regard, the director of the startup congress, Pere Duran, mentioned the possibility of expanding 4YFN, promoting the creation of a new pavilion specifically for digital health and sustainability in the run-up to 2024. 

At the same time, digital health has been a topic of debate in the various talks, round tables and conferences that the fair has hosted over the last few days. The TECSAM Network participated as attendees at the Digital Health & Wellness Summit 2023 organised by ECH Alliance, one of the major events at 4YFN, which brought together more than fifty people and allowed us to learn from top-level professionals and experts in the sector about the keys to scaling up digital health globally and the skills needed, both in terms of front-line staff and technology developers and providers, to make progress in this area. 

 

         

 

People at the centre   

On the other hand, the inclusion of the vision of the person affected has been echoed in more than one session. In this sense, the Network team was present at some of the conferences on this subject, such as: Patients Voices & User-Centric Design to Increase Access to Health Services and Products, Diversity4Tech Summit 2023 or Digital Empathy: immersive storytelling to amplify marginalised voices.  

These round tables and presentations highlighted the need to promote models centred on the human factor when designing innovative solutions in the field of health, as well as taking into account diversity and gender equality. 

 

 

From the Network, we also attended the conference “Boosting digital health: from challenges to innovative solutions” promoted by Boehringer Ingelheim, where issues such as the creation of health databases for optimal and personalised healthcare and tools that enable the validation of digital health apps were discussed.  

Undoubtedly, events of such high calibre as 4YFN or MWC are an opportunity to give a voice to digital health, a topic on the agenda of the TECSAM Network and the research driven by our research groups. 

Looking ahead to the 2024 edition, we will once again be present at this world-leading congress and we hope to be accompanied by member groups of the Network and their researchers. You can also see what our time at the fair was like in this video-summary and through our Instagram and LinkedIn channels.  

See you next year!