Split Tech City is a community composed of well-intentioned and progressive companies, startups, associations, initiatives, institutions and individuals. Together we encourage and develop the IT sector of Split and the surrounding region.
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The next installment in the series dedicated to highlighting the fantastic work of the Split Tech City community members is here! You already had the chance to read about many hardworking teams and see what they’ve been up to recently.
Today’s highlight is reserved for another innovative and diligent #SplitTechCityMember team – NetHub!
As the first Croatian business accelerator that focuses on the development of healthcare technology, NetHub is of utmost importance for the national tech and startup ecosystem.
This particular accelerator offers systematic support to startups through its own structured mentoring program, masterclass lectures, networking, coworking space, products, and ideas presentation opportunities, as well as access to pre-seed funding, seed funding, investors, and sectoral and niche experts.
While providing consulting services to various stakeholders of the Croatian healthcare system, the founder E.C.H.R. Ltd, has gained valuable experience and insight into this system’s situation, problems, possibilities, and potential.
One of the main challenges noted is the wide and deep gap between the dynamic ICT sector and unmet medical needs.
This obvious need initiated the NetHub launch with the primary task of enabling and establishing appropriate cooperation between healthcare providers and the tech sector.
The NetHub team believes that close cooperation between the two sectors will greatly contribute to better accessibility and personalization of healthcare based on innovative technological solutions.
To highlight NetHub’s importance in the local tech ecosystem, we will bring your attention to the fact that the vast majority of the local area’s public and private health and social care providers, as well as ICT entrepreneurs, have participated in some of the several NetHub programs.
The main goals of the NetHub team are aimed at supporting existing entrepreneurs in the field of healthcare technologies, but also at encouraging other stakeholders to do business in this promising sector.
When it comes to established institutional or expert collaborations, the NetHub team works with most regional stakeholders in the digital health innovation value chain, such as research organizations, universities, entrepreneurial support institutions, health and social care providers, and entrepreneurs in the health and tech sectors.
Since we kept an eye on their work throughout the years, we would like to share some of the most important projects they did and a recent venture into meetup organization they realized.
As part of their work in entrepreneurial acceleration, NetHub organized the NetHub Validated Program for startups.
With this program, NetHub provided support to startup teams in the early stages of development in the field of virtual care, remote patient monitoring, and data analysis in healthcare – mainly in the process from ideation to validation of new and existing disruptive business ideas and concepts.
The healthcare system is complex, and the NetHub team understands that building a successful health-tech startup requires more than a good idea.
That is why they offered this type of support to good ideas of local startups: “Through the three-month program, we helped startup teams by creating and implementing an individualized mentoring package and networking with technological mentors, health and social care providers, as well as their users,” explained Maja Čurković from the NetHub team.
The three chosen teams immersed themselves in the world of healthcare tech, tested the concept of their healthcare tech innovations in an industrially relevant environment, and defined further steps in the development of their startups.
To ensure commitment and business continuity after the completion of the NetHub Validated Program, each startup team provided at least one person fully dedicated to the Program.
Following the successful completion of the Validated Program, NetHub continued its support with another acceleration initiative for researchers – NetHub Research.
This program aimed to assist researchers dedicated to creating innovative solutions based on scientific research in biomedicine and healthcare.
Since May 2023, NetHub has been providing six teams with individualized mentoring packages and access to a broad network of mentors and experts. Throughout these months the dedicated teams immersed themselves in the world of design thinking, conducted market research, and engaged in numerous one-on-one meetings with NetHub’s experts.
Another new thing the NetHub team brought to Split’s tech (and healthcare) ecosystem is the Healthtech Adria Meetup.
This meetup was organized in collaboration with the School of Medicine of the University of Split and was intended for researchers, students, and entrepreneurs who share an interest in healthcare and technology and want to contribute to the development of an innovative society.
The first Healthtech Adria Meetup was held in November of last year and featured a panel discussion on the development of the health innovation ecosystem moderated by Maja Čurković who is head of research and development at NetHub.
The panelists were experts from different fields: Arsen Ivanišević – doctor of medicine, an orthopedic specialist from KBC Split, and founder of startup Xiphoid; Benjamin Benzon – doctor of medicine and researcher from MEFST; Antonio Perić-Mažar – co-founder and director of the IT company Locastic and co-organizer of the Tinel Meetup; Jelena Šuran – scientist, co-founder, and director of startup ApiotiX Technologies; and Marko Mimica – co-founder and director of the NetHub accelerator for the development of technologies in healthcare.
The meetup was a great success proving that the NetHub team and the work they do are crucial in connecting the local community interested in healthcare and tech, as well as encouraging healthcare-tech innovation.
And that’s a wrap on another #MembersHighlight! We wish the hardworking and innovative NetHub team continuous success in all they do for the local tech ecosystem!
PS: We’ve overheard some thrilling news: NetHub is actively preparing for the second edition of the Healthtech Adria Meetup! Stay tuned – these exciting updates will be coming soon!
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