This year Terkko Health X has been facing a new, challenging situation as the COVID-19 has put the whole world working remotely. First, the program was planned to be organised as a hybrid but in the end it became clear that even the final showcase would be held remotely. Despite these challenges, the remote event has its upsides – this year, we have teams outside the Helsinki area and even outside Finland.
Even different time zones haven’t stopped our teams from participating in our weekly workshops that have brought these teams together to change their thoughts on health and life science. Now everything will be culminating in the final showcase where all teams will present their final pitches that they have been working on tirelessly with the help of our mentors. Since the final showcase is just around the corner, let’s take a sneak peek at the teams of 2020!
CSS- Constructive Solution Squad
Anna Juusela, Kaisa Mäkelä, and Jari Sormunen joined their forces in CSS for their common goal to help victims of domestic violence. Anna Juusela is a founder of We Encourage which is dedicated to helping women and girls by providing education through their fundraising platform. Kaisa Mäkelä is a founding member of Awareness Recreated Oy that is raising awareness of psychological theories that could provide help for challenges in everyday life.
CSS has been creating a conversational AI tool for the victims of domestic violence to tackle this problem that touches the lives of 1 in 3 women globally. This personalized tool, AINO would provide help around the clock, which is advantageous in contrast to present chats that operate during very limited hours. AINO can be used on the phone, and it offers an easy-access for victims of domestic violence to gain psychosocial help and guidance that helps them forward.
The accelerator program has provided the team with deeper insight into the health industry and a good platform for working on their project. Hands-on exercises and new contacts that they have made along their journey have also been the highlights of their experience.
Contact CSS:
Anna Juusela – anna.juusela@encourage.fi
Kaisa Mäkelä – kaisa@awre.fi
Medixmicro
Team Medixmicro has been designing a novel delivery method that would make it easier to administer drugs to animals. Their solution to this problem is based on transdermal patches that are covered with tiny microneedles. These biodegradable patches would offer a painless and easy way to carry out any necessary drug administration – the patch is only stuck to the skin of the animal, after which the desired drug is being absorbed through the microneedles.
Team Medixmicro listed some of their favorite experiences during Terkko Health X. They emphasized the benefits of practicing pitching and the workshops where our mentors provided personalized feedback and tips for each team. What comes to pitching, learning to explain their project in commercial language instead of academic jargon has been very helpful.
Contact Medixmicro:
Helder Almeida Santos – helder.santos@helsinki.fi
Svante Group
Svante Group is an India-based team that represents one of our international teams. Their goal is to provide a modern and comfortable solution for people who struggle with different skin problems, such as over-sensitiveness, dryness, and itchiness. Their answer to this problem is a proprietary spray formula that has antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties. Their advantage is the delivery itself – instead of using sticky creams, they have been developing a formula that can be sprayed on clothes where the active ingredients can be absorbed.
The team mentioned pitching session with Walid as one of their highlights of this accelerator. The session gave them encouragement for pitching and valuable information about the business side of their research.
Contact Svante Group:
Isha Aggarwal – isha@svantegroup.com
Kavya Bhupal – kavya@svantegroup.com
ArtMonia
ArtMonia is a Barcelona-based team, making it also one of our international teams. ArtMonia is dedicated to helping people with ADHD. People with ADHD have a hard time in the social aspects of their life and they have an elevated risk of developing another psychiatric disorder during their life. ArtMonia is offering support for these people in a form of a game that is designed to empower people with ADHD and help them with the disorder.
Their team consists of multiple talents – Ruben and David are co-founders of ArtMonia who share the same background with a Master in Technological Innovation in Health. Alissa brings another aspect to their team by working as a product delivery lead for health startups whereas Louise is a game storyboard writer with experience in content marketing. Last but not least, Jose Javier is a professor of psychology in the UCM and director of Simarro Art Collection.
For ArtMonia, Terkko Health X has been their first entrepreneurial experience that has provided them with a lot of information about the healthcare industry. The supportive atmosphere in the workshops between the teams and the organizers has made the experience feel like a live workshop.
Contact ArtMonia:
David Garrido Leal – dagale.95@gmail.com
Rubén Nieto López – rub1993rose10@gmail.com
Finnadvance
Finnadvance is an Oulu-based company that has been using their experience in microtechnology to develop a modular platform for organotypic 3D cell and organoid culture assays with integrated data analysis. Their innovation has been miniature chips that resemble human organs by their function. These miniature chips provide a novel and efficient way for drug development and personalized medicine, that at the same time reduces the amount of required animal studies.
For this team, the favorite part of Terkko Health X has been connections made along the journey and gained knowledge of the business world.
Contact Finnadvance:
Tuan Nguyen – hoang@finnadvance.com
AnalysisMode
AnalysisMode is dedicated to reducing the amount of research waste and fruitless working hours of bench scientists. Approximately only 1 out of 100 experiments leads to new breakthroughs in scientific research, delaying the development of new, life-saving innovations. AnalysisMode has been tackling this problem by creating an Experiment Simulation Software that is designed to predict the final outcome of any experiment. At its best, the software can help the scientists to select the most suitable and efficient experimental design and cut out unnecessary and time-consuming experiments that wouldn’t work.
The founder team of AnalysisMode consists of Ex-Amazon Engineer and former vaccine researcher, an executive-level AI expert from Intel, and a Chief Software Architect from Elisa. Together, they have been offering AI solutions to startups and governments since 2016. In Terkko Health X, this team has enjoyed the opportunity to connect with other entrepreneurs, future clients, and partners that work in the healthcare industry.
“Having like-minded people together motivates and makes us stronger to overcome the daily obstacles.”
Contact AnalysisMode:
PillsGen
PillsGen is a team that has been dedicated to providing novel technological solutions that would make personalized medicine more accessible all over the world. They have been developing a handheld device that produces any veterinary and human medicines on the go in the desired concentration. This device would allow the production of personalized medicines regardless of the location, allowing the broader utilization of personalized medicine.
Pillsgen is a team of three multiple talented individuals who all have experience in pharmaceutics. Additionally, their founder and CEO Dhayakumar has his background in bioengineering whereas their co-founder and materials specialist Rathna brings her knowledge of chemistry to their team. As one of the co-founders, Lisa uses her experience as a pharmacist while working as Pillsgen’s R&D lead. Professor Hongbo Zhang has also been offering his knowledge by being part of PillsGen’s advisory board.
The team says that the highlights of Terkko Health X have included all sessions, connections and mentors – especially pitching coaching!
Contact PillsGen:
Dhayakumar Rajan Prakash – drajanpr@abo.fi[
JasminePro
Building a healthier world is an important objective for JasminePro who are dedicated to ease the burden of drug development. JasminePro has been focused on developing a novel polymer-based technology platform for drug delivery applications. The strength of their innovation lies in its flexibility – their multifunctional polymer can be easily modulated by inserting new functional groups in its chain. Due to this, their polymer can be used in different drug delivery applications, offering a cost-effective alternative for drug delivery applications. Additionally, their polymer is produced in an eco-friendly route and the final product itself is biodegradable.
JasminePro is a team of five members who have an impressive track record. The team has experience from drug delivery, polymer chemistry, and sales and marketing of pharmaceutical products. Jessica Rosenholm is a professor in Pharmaceutical Development and head of discipline at the Pharmaceutical Sciences Laboratory since 2015. Carl-Eric Wilen is a professor of Polymer Technology and head of the discipline since the start of 1999. Outi Wilen is an expert in sales, marketing, and management positions in the pharmaceutical industry. Kuldeep Bansal has done his Ph.D degree in pharmacy and Erica Sjöblom has both BSc and MSc degrees in pharmacy as well.
Together, this team has participated in Terkko Health X to further develop their business idea. The highlight of their journey has been the useful tips from the mentors who have helped them gain knowledge of how to move from the lab to the market.
“Taking part in this program was the first step, and we are thankful for the tools Terkko Health X has provided.”
Contact JasminePro:
Kuldeep Bansal – kuldeep.bansal@abo.fi