SymbIASIS 2023 launches with 15 hospitals and clinics supporting startups

The pioneering acceleration project SymbIASIS, implemented by EIT Health and coordinated by the National Documentation Centre (EKT) in collaboration with the Archimedes Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, is launching its 2nd round of actions.

The aim of SymbIASIS (=Symbiosis + Iasis) is to enhance the dialogue between hospitals and startups operating in the healthcare sector, the exchange of knowledge and experience, networking and exploring collaborations in order to develop innovative products and services.

The initial expectation was that in the first year of the project, the dialogue and capacity building of the startups and ambassadors would be initiated in order to increase their readiness to set up pilot projects (e.g. IP/CE/MDR/Procurement training) and the launch of 4 pre-pilot projects.

However, SymbIASIS far exceeded the initial objectives and established itself as the first accelerator for health startups in Greece.

The project will connect, for the first time in Greece, hospitals and start-ups. A first major success of the pioneering programme for Greek standards is that it has attracted 15 hospitals and clinics and 40 of the most dynamic startups operating in the health sector.

SymbIASIS now includes 15 hospitals and clinics (8 continuing from 2022 and 7 new ones from 2023) that will support startups from Greece and Cyprus. Analytically:

Hospitals and Clinics - 2022 (continuing in 2023):

1. Hygeia Group
2. Onassis Cardiac Surgery Centre
3. Papageorgiou General Hospital of Thessaloniki
4. Vascular Surgery Clinic - General University Hospital ‘Attikon’
5. 3rd Surgical Clinic - General University Hospital ‘Attikon’
6. 2nd University Cardiology Clinic - General University Hospital ‘Attikon’
7. 1st University ENT Clinic - Ippokrateio Hospital
8. Athens Medical Centre

New hospitals and clinics - 2023

1. 401 GSNA
2. 2^nd Pre-education Internal Medicine Clinic - General University Hospital ‘Attikon’
3. 4^th Department of Internal Medicine – General Hospital University ‘Attikon’
4. Oncology Unit / 3rd Internal Medicine Clinic – General University Hospital ‘Sotiria’
5. Haematology clinic – General Hospital of Athens ‘G. Gennimatas’
6. ENT Clinic - General Hospital of Athens ‘G. Gennimatas’
7. General Hospital Larissa

The most important indicator of the success of SymbIASIS for 2022 is the achievement of 17 partnerships between hospitals and startups. Of these, 4 concern new pilot projects within hospitals, 4 are new business partnerships, and the rest are partnerships for participation in European funding programmes or tenders.

The great benefit resulting from the methodology and the main idea of the project is that the services and products are designed taking into account the needs of citizens and health units, and tested in a real environment in order to have a positive impact on the health and lives of patients, society and the environment.

SymbIASIS addresses the need to connect hospitals with healthcare start-ups, so that both hospitals can modernise and digitally transform themselves through open innovation methods and/or innovation contracts, and start-ups can validate their technological solutions in a real environment with pilot or pre-pilot tests.. 

You can submit a proposal for evaluation in order to participate in SymbIASIS project until Friday, May 12, 2023, by sending an email to megas@ekt.gr.

Your proposed solution should be in the ‘Proof of Concept’ phase, according to the CIMIT model. Find more information here.

During the project, the solutions of the selected companies will be matched with the needs and expertise of the hospitals with the ultimate goal of developing partnerships, while specialised seminars for knowledge exchange and training workshops will be held.

Proposals will be evaluated on the basis of their maturity and the extent to which they match the needs of the hospitals. A first-come, first-served process will be followed until the positions in the programme are filled. In total, and for the second year of the programme, approximately 15 more startups will be added to the existing 40 startups from the first year (see the 2022 startups and their innovative solutions here) which will continue to receive programme services.

For more information, please contact the project coordinators from EKT, George Megas, coordinator of EIT Health HUB, tel. 2102204921, megas@ekt.gr and Marios Roidis, EIT Health HUB/EEN Innovation Consultant, tel. 2102204924 mroidis@ekt.gr.