Three diabetes technology innovators chosen as challenge finalists

Three inventors of creative new technology for diabetes patients have been named as finalists in the Diabetes Center Berne (DCB) Innovation Challenge.

They were selected from the 20 best start-ups, medical and research professionals, and individuals that pitched their ideas to the jury on May 10 – all of whom have been invited to join a mentoring programme.

This is the second year that DCB in Switzerland has hosted an innovation challenge – the first, which took place last year, focused on glucose measurement.

The start-up GlucoSet, which developed a glucose measurement system for intensive care units, was named the winner.

This year the challenge has been divided into two categories – Diabetes Devices and Digital Diabetes.

The first, which kicked off at the beginning of March, is for medical devices such as insulin pens, insulin pumps or sensors for continuous glucose measurement.

The second, which takes place in August, is for digital solutions such as apps for diabetes management, such as apps for monitoring glucose levels or nutrition, or for connecting with other people with diabetes.

Three finalists

Winning a place in the final of the Diabetes Devices category was Denmark’s Ole Kjerkegaard Nielsen with his affordable insulin pen ‘GO-Pen’.

He said: “We believe everybody should have equal access to quality diabetes care.

“The GO-Pen is a refillable insulin pen that works with a broad range of insulins and provides the same advantages as any pre-filled insulin pen compared to injecting insulin from vials using syringes.”

Second finalist is John Wilcox from the United States with SmartFusion – a next generation insulin infusion monitoring platform.

“SmartFusion is an infusion monitoring platform for people with insulin pumps and automated insulin delivery devices,” Wilcox said.

“Our technology works by analysing historical and real-time data from insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors to better detect the occurrence of infusion set failure and reduce severe hyperglycemia from insulin dosing.”

The last finalist is France’s Ben Delhey with Lassie, a non-invasive breath analyser for people with diabetes.

“We give people access to gentle non invasive health monitoring starting with diabetes,” Delhey explained.

“We leverage molecules (volatile organic compounds) present in exhaled breath and correlated with glucose biomarker to calculate accurately the value of glucose in real-time and very user-friendly way.”

The three finalists will attend a one-week innovation bootcamp in Switzerland at the end of June.

The final pitches and award ceremony before an international jury will then take place on November 30 at the Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine in Bern.

A prize of $100,000, along with additional support, will go to the winning team, while the second and third place winners will receive $60,000 and $40,000 respectively.

Targeted support

“At DCB, we want to close the gaps between ideas, clinical trials and start-ups through innovation,” said Dr Maren Schinz, who manages the DCB Open Innovation Challenge.

“One way we pursue this goal is through the DCB Open Innovation Challenge, which connects start-ups, mentors, companies and the international diabetes community.

“In this way, we can help viable, innovative ideas in diabetes management achieve a breakthrough – not only through funding, but also through targeted support from our partner network.”

More than 537 million people worldwide are living with diabetes. For those affected, it is a constant challenge that affects their everyday lives.

Technological innovations play an important role in making it easier to cope with diabetes.

It is working with the Department of Diabetes, Endocrinology, Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern (UDEM) to develop innovative technologies to combat diabetes.