Celebrating Innovation in Women's Health - Tech4Eva Conference 2024 Recap
Building a Thriving Femtech Ecosystem
Jerome Michaud and Anna Soederlind opened the conference with pride and enthusiasm, highlighting how far Tech4Eva has come in the past four years. From an idea to address gaps in women's healthcare,Tech4Eva has grown into a robust ecosystem with 300+ participants and 94 accelerated start-ups. These start-ups have collectively raised over 200 million CHF to date, underscoring the momentum behind Femtech innovation in Switzerland and beyond.
Key Themes: Maternal Health and Collaborative Innovation
The 2024 conference focused on maternal health this year, emphasizing the need for improved solutions from preconception to postpartum care. Mariana Atilano Merinan, Head of Strategy & Innovation at Groupe Mutuel, spoke about the insurer's role in easing administrative burdens and connecting women with the right resources during pregnancy. Her call for more collaborative action resonated throughout the event.
Lan Zuo Gillet, Deputy Managing Director of EPFL Innovation Park and Tech4Eva Director, emphasized the power of innovation platforms in supporting Femtech start-ups. She shared impressive statistics: Tech4Eva received 570 applications from 64 countries over four years, reflecting a global demand for better women's health solutions and more support for the founders.
Lan highlighted the conference’s societal impact: “Of our 94 start-ups, 33 are improving standards of care and 51 are enhancing prevention and well-being. “The importance of maternal health cannot be overstated – healthy mothers and children are the foundation of a healthy society, said Lan.”
Insights from Clinical Research Leaders
The event welcomed healthcare leaders from CHUV, including Stefan Kohler, Deputy for Innovation at the Directorate of Innovation and Clinical Research, and Dr. Basile Pache, Senior Registrar, Gynecology and Obstetrics, Women-Mother-Child Department who spoke about the importance of integrating clinical research and innovation. They highlighted the challenges faced by public hospitals and the need for partnerships with start-ups to bring fresh perspectives and technologies.
Dr. Pache captured the spirit of collaboration: “We need the external expertise and innovation that start-ups bring. If you want to go far, go together.”
Showcase of Cutting-Edge Start-ups
The conference featured pitches from 16 graduating Tech4Eva start-ups tackling diverse issues in women’s health. Solutions spanned from maternal care, fertility, diagnostics, oncology, and menopause, demonstrating the breadth and depth of Femtech innovation. Start-ups like Galena Innovations, with their Hannah Cervical Cup for preterm birth prevention, and Namida, which focuses on early breast cancer detection, exemplify the life-changing potential of these technologies.
The Role of AI in Maternity Care
Before the insightful panel discussion on maternal health, the audience had the privilege of hearing a keynote from Antoniya Georgieva, Associate Professor at the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Women's & Reproductive Health. Her presentation “AI-Assisted Risk Assessment in Maternity,” dived into the transformative potential of AI for improving maternal health outcomes.
Antoniya addressed the challenges of current maternity care, where outdated technologies like the Cardiotocograph (CTG) are still the standard for fetal monitoring during labor. She illustrated how AI can enhance decision-making by analyzing large datasets to provide earlier and more accurate risk assessments. This not only streamlines obstetric care but can also prevent adverse outcomes for mothers and babies.
Key Take-aways from the Keynote:
1. Data is the Foundation: AI in maternity care is only as powerful as the data behind it. Collecting and analyzing large-scale, diverse datasets is critical for developing reliable AI tools.
2. Transfer Learning for Global Impact: AI models trained in one region can be adapted to others through transfer learning, making it possible to democratize maternal care solutions globally, especially in low-resource settings.
3. Human-AI Collaboration: AI should support healthcare providers, not replace them. By triaging cases and identifying risks early, AI can enable doctors and midwives to focus where their expertise is needed most.
4. Ethical and Equitable AI: AI tools must be developed with considerations for data privacy, ethics, and socioeconomic diversity to ensure they benefit all populations, including those in the Global South.
A highlight was the panel discussion on AI-assisted risk assessment in maternity, moderated by Antoniya Georgieva. The panelists were Pascal Koenig, Founder, Malaica, Raymon uit de Bulten, Director Pregnancy for Business Lead & B2B Digital Health solution for insurers and payers, Philips, Julien Penders, Co-Founder & COO of Bloomlife and Tiziana D'Onofrio of Groupe Mutuel. They discussed how AI can improve maternal outcomes by enhancing diagnostics, accessibility, and personalized care.
Key insights included the need to improve global access to quality care, address maternal health disparities in the Global South, and build robust data infrastructure to power AI solutions. Collaboration between start-ups, corporates, and insurers was highlighted as essential for scalable, ethical, and effective innovation.
The panel concluded that AI has the potential to democratize maternal care, but success depends on partnerships and ensuring solutions are adaptable and inclusive. As Raymon uit de Bulten from Philips noted, “To truly make an impact, we need to combine technology with collaboration, ensuring we reach more mothers with the care they deserve.”
Fostering Partnerships and Future Growth
The event underscored the importance of partnerships between start-ups, insurers, corporates, and hospitals. As Tiziana D’Onofrio of Groupe Mutuel noted, collaboration and transparency are key: “Alone, we cannot do everything. We need each other to drive meaningful change.”
The conference concluded with a toast to continued innovation and collaboration. The Tech4Eva community is not slowing down – it’s accelerating towards a future where women’s health is a priority, not an afterthought.
Looking Ahead
As we close the 2024chapter of Tech4Eva, the journey continues. The Femtech movement is gaining momentum, and Switzerland is at the forefront. Stay connected, stay innovative, and let us shape the future of women’s health – together.
Learn more about the 2024 start-ups here
View the photo gallery here
Watch the full recording here