First ImagineIF! local final in Serbia on March 7th at STP Belgrade - Naučno-tehnološki park Beograd

First ImagineIF! local final in Serbia on March 7th at STP Belgrade

First Local ImagineIF! final in Serbia, within the competition and accelerator program for health-tech startups, will be held on March 7th, 10 am, at STP Belgrade.

Finalists, that passed the mentoring program with more than 40 local mentors in the past month, will present they ideas at the pitch in the final of the program. The Belgrade winning team will receive EUR 2,000 of funding, as well as the opportunity to participate in the global IMAGINE IF competition in London, where they’ll fight for $ 10.000. Local winner will also have the opportunity to use laboratory space in one of the global capitals of Imagine IF! competitions, including Belgrade, for six months.

IMAGINE IF! is being held for the fifth consecutive year, but for the first time in Serbia – in cooperation between Innovation Forum Cambridge with Science Technology Park Belgrade (platinum partner) and Health Tech Lab (silver partner).

The closing event in Belgrade will gather participants, mentors, and experts in the field of health and industry. Jason Mellad, CEO and Co-Founder at Start Codon Cambridge, Miodrag Stojkovic, world-renowned scientist and founder of the special hospital for the treatment of sterility “Spebo” and Gordana Matic, from the Institute for Biological Research “Sinisa Stankovic” Belgrade, will hold a lecture. H.E. Ambassador of UK to Serbia, Mr. Denis Keefe and Assistant Minister – Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Government of the Republic of Serbia, Sasa Lazovic will also be present as special guests.

Finalists of the first local ImagineIF! Competitions in Serbia are:

IMGGE

A team IMGGE has developed a completely natural probiotic “Diapet” designed on the basis of the dairy natural isolate Lactobacillus paraplantarum BGCG11 with proven health effect on diabetic animals. Having a diabetic pet increases the amount of care, which requires lifelong treatment with special diets and insulin supplementation, where minimal dietary change may alter food intake and affect the therapeutic response to insulin. For this reason, insulin therapy is often associated with different adverse reactions to the drug. The regular consumption of this innovative probiotic decreases the need for insulin supplementation, prevents both pets and pets’ owners from the stress of insulin injections, overcomes the problem of inadequate dosing of supplementary insulin and thus reduces the risk of life-threatening oscillation of blood sugar concentration. This probiotic will be produced in two forms: as the innovative delicious fermented beverage that animals are very happy to and in the solid form that could be mixed with the regular food that pets used to eat, without the need of changing dietary regimen.

Easy Tech

Easy Tech team is developing a smart glove for blind people, which functions according to the guidance principle of the white cane, it replaces and complements it, with an aim to help blind with the performance of everyday activities, as well as with the orientation in space. With the help of applied technology, the glove can interpret the emotions and their intensity, which with other information develops the complete picture from the real world. The glove has more than 10 functions, including the identification of the light intensity and accurate colour, and it can tell you the time and date, etc.

Educated

Team Educated aims to create a completely new and original hardware/software, and mobile system applied during the speech and hearing therapies, as well as in the sensory rooms, by developing new tools and integrating already existing proven methods. Educated team is comprised of speech therapists, psychologists, audio engineers, business professionals and skilled
engineers, who already created three successful prototypes, installed and in use in KBC Zvezdara hospital’s special division for hearing and speech disorders – “Dečja Kuća”. Their aim is to create modular, expandable software platform which offers methods that SLP therapists normally use in their practice, and add new tools, characterised as original, useful, user-friendly, fun and connected. The software will be based on a commercially available PC computer, with the ability to connect to and control our existing devices. The software will be capable of audio recording and archiving, real-time audio processing, visualizing audio frequencies and levels, and controlling other devices in the ecosystem according to patients’ voice. The hardware devices will be easy to operate, practical and highly customizable to client’s needs.

HerbElixa

HerbElixa team has developed an innovative formulation which is proven to be highly effective in eradication of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in animal models, a pathogenic bacterium that inhabits the human stomach where it can induce many gastrointestinal disorders. The formulation presents a unique combination of essential oils, obtained from aromatic plants grown in Serbia. H. pylori is recognized as the major aetiological factor in chronic active type B gastritis, gastric and duodenal ulceration, as well as gastric carcinoma and primary gastric lymphoma. Currently available antibiotic-based therapies have numerous drawbacks, including increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistant strains and number of side effects. With an aim to optimize the aforementioned formulation and adapt it for human use in a form of dietary supplement, HerbElixa wish to make valuable contribution to the world without diseases caused by H. pylori infection.

eHat

eHat team is developing a portable, lightweight EEG device, which would monitor the epileptic patients throughout their normal working day and get the data that we were not able to collect before. Having in mind that in order to reach the suitable therapy, epileptic patients have to change the combination of medications quite often, going through frequent visits to the clinicians, this device would significantly facilitate the monitoring of the patients’ reaction to the therapy prescribed. Collected data would be accessible by the responsible clinician in the real-time. Clinician would be then able to send the feedback through an application, stored in server in the Cloud, where Artificial Intelligence would be applied to find patterns and warn the patients if their condition is about to get worse. These data might have the potential to prepare and warn the patient for the unpleasant occurrence of the seizure, as well as to inform the clinicians so they could send paramedics to the patients’ location.

Smart Research

SmartResearch is making novel devices to automate life science experiments and tests within the laboratory setting. Using their SmartBlot device, a Western blot membrane processor, laboratory employee can save at least two hours of active work and achieve same or even more precise results than through the manual processing. From a diagnostics perspective, Western blot is used as the golden standard diagnostic test for many diseases including HIV, Lyme disease, autoimmune diseases and HTLV. What distinguishes SmartResearch from other automated Western blot devices is that from a technical perspective they have developed the first economically viable device that uses 5 times less chemicals compared to the competitor devices.

AsthmaPal

AsthmaPal is a mobile app developed for patients diagnosed with asthma, with the ability to predict the asthma attacks based on users triggers and current environmental conditions that are influencing asthma as a disease. Based on AsthmaPal’s research, the team detected 13 main asthma triggers and the basic ways of their interaction, which are now introduced within the modern AI algorithm. The algorithm can learn fast about users’ asthma condition and their sensitivity to the triggers. This enables the user to predict the probability and severity of their incoming asthma attack, along with the current pollen level, dust and humidity forecast. The app can and will adapt to every single user with personalized content for their asthma and predict future attacks with more precision. The main aim is to focus on asthma drug prevention, by discouraging asthmatics from preventively using too much medication in order to stop their future attacks.

ECG for Everybody

ECG for Everybody is a device-software platform for multiple biomedical signals recording, big data collection and the analysis in order to estimate overall heart health condition, and stress/fitness levels. Additionally, it tracks and provides personalized advice on how to improve condition using AI and machine learning in big data analysis, in combination with the collected knowledge/experience of various experts through crowdsourcing mechanisms. The team is developing devices to extend smartphones to enable ECG, blood circulation, blood pressure sensing. The app provides the analysis of the results through the scoring of patient’s personal results with other matched users of similar age, activity, and same gender, and suggests the activities, breathing patterns etc. derived from the big data to improve your conditions and track the progress. The product also includes the Crowdsourcing platform, http://www.ecg4everybody.com/crowdsourcing/ which provides aggregation of various expertise not only medical but also sport/fitness/yoga etc.

Safe Cath

SafeCath invented the eversible catheters, primarily intended for use on the urinary tract, but can also during other surgical and non-surgical medical methods. As a urinary catheter, this minimally invasive catheter can be used as an indwelling or intermittent catheter with a transurethral or suprapubic approach. The catheter is a flexible tube which can be inserted through a narrow opening into a body cavity for the drainage of body fluids, but it can also be used for diagnostic or therapeutic reasons. The minimally invasive catheter has a new technical solution for eversible catheters where a single layer rolling membrane forms hermetically fitted space with the simple principle of placing and removing and distinctive design which prevents twisting of tubular membrane and provides secure urine flow of the catheter. This technical solution could prevent contamination of the catheter and introduction of bacteria into the sterile parts of the urinary tract. There is a possibility that this catheter will be less painful for patients and will less damage the epithelium of the urethra, which may reduce the complications of the urinary catheter, such as urethritis, cystitis, urethral injury, blood Infection, etc.

AsclepiusTech

AsclepiusTech is developing a rapid multi-diagnostic device, which would enable improved accessibility for diagnostics for the majority of people that live in remote areas, in countries struck by poverty or by military conflicts, in order to overcome the inaccessibility to medical diagnostic. This instrument would be so simple to use, that it could be applied by non-professionals, even children, and it could save lives by the implementation of the wireless technologies that could alert the nearest emergency unit giving preliminary information about the biomarker parameters. The product would be based on the silica nanoneedles, which could be able to sample interstitial fluid in the skin and, by using specific indicators, and measure the level of certain biomarkers, allowing quick reaction by a doctor. The advantages of this method are that it would be noninvasive, needle-free painless, and hygienic.