The 10-week eHealth Embark programme will see one lucky start-up win $100,000 in AWS credits at a Demo Day in May.
Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) has launched the second year of its start-up programme for digital health companies in Ireland.
eHealth Embark is a 10-week programme hosted by DkIT and supported by Amazon Web Services (AWS). It is operated by the dConnect Digital Health Innovation Hub and the Connected Health and Wellbeing cluster – both created by DkIT.
Starting 20 March, selected start-ups will get training, workshops and mentorship from both DkIT and AWS. At a Demo Day on 25 May start-ups will pitch their ideas to a panel of judges and one lucky start-up will be awarded $100,000 in AWS credits and access to free hotdesking facilities at DkIT.
All eHealth Embark participants will receive $2,000 in AWS credits.
The programme will also include a total of six full-day workshops delivered by healthcare experts as well as tech mentoring from AWS experts.
“We look forward to supporting another cohort of digital health start-ups and building on the success of last year’s participants,” said Carl Power, director of the dConnect Digital Health Innovation Hub.
“We see this as a great opportunity to support early innovation targeting the healthcare sector and ensure that Ireland is at the forefront of this rapidly expanding sector.”
DkIT has a strong track record of digital health spin-outs such as Nova Leah and work with StatSports.
eHealth Embark was launched last year to support early-stage digital health companies seeking to target the healthcare system with support across technical, commercial, clinical and regulatory sectors.
Last year’s competition was won by Cymantic Medical.
Cymantic founder, Stephen Geoghegan, said of his win: “Developing a new medical device and bringing it to market can take a long time and be a very tentative process, so receiving this kind of validation is a source of great motivation and encouragement for us.”
“The AWS credits we’ve been awarded give us access to powerful cloud computing resources that can now accelerate the development of our technology, which, we believe, can have a major impact for cancer patients and healthcare providers.”
Interested start-ups can apply for the programme on the eHealth Embark website. The deadline for applications is 26 February.
10 things you need to know direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of essential sci-tech news.