Triumf Health in Cleveland. Why?

This time we are writing about our adventures in Cleveland. We are incredibly proud to be the only healthtech startup from Europe to be in the finals of the medical innovation competition. Definitely continue reading!

Cleveland – the hub of health innovations

Cleveland can be considered as the Medical Capital of the World. It has incredibly lively health technology ecosystem and its Global Center for Health Innovation truly seems like one of a kind. Not to mention that Cleveland Clinic is a top 5 healthcare institution and the city itself is considered to be among TOP10 medtech cities globally. Learn more about The Medical Capital

What was team Triumf doing in Cleveland?

We were chosen among the finalists at [The Medical Capital Innovation Competition MCIC which was a huge honor to us. Applications were sent from 24 countries and we ended up being the only team from Europe. All teams were strong and showed great potential to disrupt the industry. This whole process was one of the greatest experiences for our startup so far.

Anything cool happened at MCIC?

I was accompanied by a journalist Julie Washington during some of the mentoring sessions on the first day. Later, she wrote a story in the local newspaper and gave a brief overview of our solution to the readers. In the article, she wrote about the feedback from one of the mentors:

"I really like this product," said Bronwen Huron, a mentor for the Medical Capital Innovation Competition. Huron is also a former nurse and manager at HIMSS. "Your solution sounds really patient-centered, which is a beautiful thing," Huron said. (from Cleveland.com)

How did the pitch go?

I feel like the pitch went fine but I could have performed even better (I blame the jet lag!). Nevertheless, let’s hear what some of the judges thought of it:

Fantastic job describing the problem and solution and how it works.

Great idea. Would love to see you partner with big health systems in US. Cleveland clinic and others.

Gamification for pediatric patients. Significant feedback loops through sensors performance etc. shared with providers. Focus on prevention and care team engagement through dashboard and reporting. Value proposition of real-time data is a key differentiator. Potentially target large academic children’s hospitals in the US. EMR integration will be helpful.

Good qualifications of problem. Great to acknowledge the focus should be on prevention. Better treatment compliance through behavior changing methods. Disease Monster in city needs to be stopped. Assigned sidekick. Age of kids and game nexus might need help.

The game concept is very cool about the inner superhero. Early profiling with machine learning. Dashboard to summarize results for medical personnel. Focus on prevention is unique. This will be difficult in the US given where reimbursement may not align like in Europe.

Challenges with taking business model from Europe to the states. Concern about financial viability here and outcomes in the population in the states. No discussion of integration to EMR but rather separate dashboard. Appreciate that the data is being analyzed prior to being shared.

Although the feedback was positive, it was not enough to win the competition. So huge congratulations once again to the winner VastBiome. Although VastBiome is a very young startup, they have ha huge potential in advancing precision medicine through utilizing microbiome research. We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed for your success in the future, it was a pleasure meeting you!

How did we learn about this international healthcare innovation competition?

We take part in webinars and other learning opportunities organized by HIMSS. If you are interested in health technology in general then I highly recommend becoming a member. We learnt about this innovation competition through this network.

Would we recommend applying?

For sure. Although we didn’t win the competition, we learnt so much during the process. The first day was full of mentoring with key decision makers and having 1:1 meetings with such an impressive set of mentors was very eye-opening and fruitful. Moreover, as we are from Europe, we wouldn’t have had this opportunity otherwise. We highly value all the contacts we gained during the competition. Taken together, we are incredibly thankful for this opportunity, it gave us a massive boost! The fact that we are now in contact with one of the important decision makers from Cleveland Clinic still makes my hands a bit shaky.

Over and out from my side! Read also what Risto and Georgi did in Tampere when I was in Cleveland and stay tuned for a little story from Riin about her adventures in Montreal.