EKIN+ HEALTH, A PROGRAM TO PROMOTE CREATION AND GROWTH OF NEW BUSINESS INITIATIVES IN HEALTH FIELD
About this good practice
Innovative entrepreneurship is one of the strategic lines of Fomento San Sebastian (FSS). This integrates activities to promote entrepreneurial culture, training programs, entrepreneurship promotion among researchers, project incubation, access to financing, national/European funding opportunities, attraction and return of Talent, integration of the Talent House Reception Plan or connection with leading international ecosystems.
In all the actions carried out within the framework of this strategy, health and biosciences sector is of particular relevance since we are facing an aging population, new challenges in the health field, as well as a great opportunity through new technologies and health-related research.
The EKIN+ Health program is a new 10 months- acceleration program for start-ups in the hospital health field, launched in 2020 as a spin-off of the multi-sector Ekin+ program. Since then, 5 start-ups have been supported (1-2 projects/year) with:
-Specialized and personal advice on business model and specialized mentoring in the field of health innovation provided by IIS Biogipuzkoa.
-Financial aid aimed at achieving the objectives established during the mentoring process, such as: intellectual property, certifications, access to funding, etc.
-Access to workspaces: in business centers of FSS
-Access to the Elkargi Guarantee Fund
-Accommodation in the buildings provided by FSS
-Incorporation to the Ekin+ Community
Resources needed
The total investment made in the EKIN+ Health program has been 86.100 euros. This represents an average investment per project of 17.220 euros.
Evidence of success
5 start-ups have been already supported and accelerated thanks to this programme. One of the main qualitative reuslts is that, despite the fact that those start-ups receive financial aids, they get to work in close relation with Biodonostia, an international leading reference in the Biohealth sector. This leads to new sinergies and potential reseach collaborations that can lead to new solutions and businesses, taht could be, again, supported and promoted through Ekin + Health.
Potential for learning or transfer
The learning potential is clear since the program has only been running for 3 editions and each edition is becoming more specialized, so that the work done during the program has an impact on both, the project being mentored and the Hospital itself, so that they can continue working together in the future. The importance of being aligned with the collaboration partner (Biogipuzkoa in this case) in charge of the specialized mentoring has been proven to be a win-win situation.