The SymbIASIS project connecting hospitals and startups begins

The Inaugural Meeting of the SymbIASIS project, which aims to connect hospitals and startups in order to develop or improve innovative solutions in the field of health, took place on Friday 15 April 2022. The SymbIASIS methodology will allow the optimisation of solutions with data from real environments (hospitals/clinics) so that the most effective solutions for patients and the wider health sector can emerge. The pioneering project for Greek data is being implemented within the framework of EIT Health and is being co-ordinated by the National Documentation Centre (EKT) in collaboration with the Archimedes Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA).

The hospitals/clinics participating in the project so far are as follows:

• IPORL Clinic NKUA, Hippocrates Hospital of Athens
• Vascular Surgery Clinic NKUA, General University Hospital 'Attikon'
• 2nd Cardiology Clinic  General University Hospital 'Attikon'
• 3rd Surgery Clinic General University Hospital 'Attikon'
• Thessaloniki General Hospital 'Papageorgiou'
• Hygeia Hospital
• Onassis Cardiac Surgery Centre

The vision and goals of SymbIASIS for the first year were presented by EKT's Innovation Advisors and project co-ordinators George Megas and Varvara Vasilaki, and executives of the Archimedes Centre Dr. Giannis Dimitrakopoulos and Vassilis Simos.

Representatives of the clinics and hospitals participating in the project too part in the meeting and contributed significantly to the discussion on the next steps:

• Professor Emmanuel Pikoulis, Dean of the School of Health Sciences NKUA, Director of the 3rd Surgery Clinic at the General University Hospital 'Attikon'
• Professor Athanasios Bibas, Director of the 1st University General Hospital Attikon Hospital
• Professor George Geroulakos, Director of the Vascular Surgery Clinic at the General University Hospital 'Attikon'
• Professor Gerasimos Filippatos, Director of the 2nd University Cardiology Clinic at the Attikon General University Hospital
• Petros Papachristou, Director of Information Systems of the Group Nigos Papargopis Information
• Maria Bigaki, head of the Office of Project Management at the General Hospital of Thessaloniki Papageorgiou
• Michalis Papadakis, Chief Information Officer Director Onassis Cardiac Surgery Centre.

The goal of SymbIASIS is to strengthen: the dialogue between hospitals and start-ups active in the field of health; the exchange of knowledge and experience; networking and exploring collaborations to develop innovative products and services. The great benefit of the project's methodology and central idea is that services and products are designed with the needs of citizens and health facilities in mind and tested in a real environment to have a positive impact on the health and lives of patients in society and the environment.
A mapping of the needs and specialisation of hospitals and start-ups will be carried out during the project, matching needs with a view to developing co-operation, specialised co-creation schemes and training workshops.

SymbIASIS

The SymbIASIS project is being carried out by the National Documentation Centre (EKT) in its role as a hub of EIT Health in Greece, with the support of the Archimedes Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship of NKUA.

The project aims to cover the need to connect hospitals with startups in the sector so that hospitals can be modernised, digitally transformed with open innovation methods and/or Innovation procurement, while at the same time Startups can validate their technological solutions in a real environment with pilot or pre-pilot tests. This need was strongly highlighted during the successful event, Morning Health Talks: Hospitals and Startups, Innovating in a real environment, organised by EKT with the support of the Archimedes Centre . 
For more information contact the project co-ordinators from EKT George Mega (megas@ekt.gr) and Barbara Vasilaki (vasilaki@ekt.gr).

EIT Health

EIT Health is a network of leading enterprises and organisations in health innovation. It consists of 150 partners and is supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union.  The aim of EIT Health is to bring innovative solutions and new services in the field of healthcare, helping European citizens to improve their health and live longer. EIT Health connects all healthcare providers across European borders, taking care to include all aspects of the 'knowledge triangle' so that innovation emerges where research, education and entrepreneurship meet