Medtech4Health Innovation Award 2018

”We’ve been struggling with this for nine years and had so many reverses. To get this recognition, is wonderful,” says Damon Tojjar, on the way from the prize ceremony to a celebratory dinner. It was said with genuine feeling. Nine years is a long time. It requires a special kind of person not to give up, but to continue the struggle.

A huge degree of persistence and the strong belief that patients really need and would benefit from the help. These were two things all three finalists mentioned when asked by the moderator what they needed to successfully implement their new solutions in healthcare.

“It’s when I hear such things,” writes Medtech4Health’s Kristina Svensson, “that I feel most proud of working for Medtech4Health. It is something special to have the opportunity to illuminate and spread good initiatives in a field that can actually mean life or death.” This perspective is something we were reminded of earlier in the day when Karin Liljelund from the Lung Cancer Foundation unsentimentally, and so even more affectingly, described her journey through healthcare.

The Medtech4Health Innovation Award finalists this year

• • Jesper Hessius and the Operation Check – an app that provides personal information immediately prior to an operation. The app was developed in collaboration with the orthopaedic clinic in Västerås.
  • Synnöve Lindemalm and her colleagues in the paediatric drug group at Astrid Lindgren Children’s Hospital and Theme Children’s and Women’s Healthcare at Karolinska University Hospital. ePed – electronic decision support for the correct drug treatment of children.
  • Lund University Diabetes Centre, Region Skåne, patient associations and other groups, under the leadership of Damon Tojjar, who developed EASY Diabetes – an AI-based decision support for better diabetes treatment.

This latter group were the winners. Holding the project together and speaking for the group at the award ceremony was Damon Tojjar. He was visibly moved and began his thanks by highlighting the qualities of the other finalists. Both ePed and Operation Check are initiatives that he, as a doctor, is impressed by. He also thanked all the people involved in the EASY Diabetes project, two of whom were present during the evening.

A festive setting

For the second consecutive year, the Medtech4Health Innovation Award was presented during Swedish Medtech’s Annual Conference, which took place this year at Grand Hôtel in Stockholm. It is a very successful co-operation that gives the award ceremony a festive setting. Moderator Ingrid Heath held the day and the award ceremony together very well.

At the award ceremony, the prize giver was jury member and Region Skåne Research Director, Hannie Lundgren. Speaking at the ceremony, she stressed the importance of the Award in focusing on entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs who improve the situation for patients, make work easier for healthcare staff and give outsiders the chance to see healthcare through new lenses.

The finalists were delighted, the organisers were happy and the prize-winners were overjoyed. In short, there was a very cheerful crowd last night at the Grand Hôtel.

You can see short video presentations (in Swedish) of each of the three finalist projects by following the links below.

Operation Check

ePed

EASY Diabetes (Award Winner)