As the momentum behind digital transformation in healthcare gathers pace, the need for stakeholder collaboration has never been greater. COVID-19 has shone a light on what can be achieved quickly and effectively when digital health players come together and focus on a specific provider challenge, particularly on the telehealth front.

Now, the industry needs an ecosystem approach to seize the opportunity created by the pandemic with the potential to change the way healthcare providers procure technologies that meet their needs in more innovative ways.

Launched in early 2021, the EMEA Edison Accelerator is part of an ecosystem model that enables digital health start-ups, scale-ups and providers to collaborate and innovate, harnessing the benefits of GE Healthcare’s development environment and mentoring services to build on the value proposition of their own tools and applications.

“The future of innovation will be about working across silos and collaborating across the healthcare ecosystem, including start-ups, research centres, hospitals, clinicians and patients,” said Jan Beger, senior director of digital ecosystem at GE Healthcare. “The Edison Accelerator is bringing together those stakeholders under a single, connected ecosystem to generate a real impact in helping to improve the bottom line and in providing patient care.”

Designed in partnership with Wayra UK and with the participation of healthcare provider institutions including Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Alliance Medical, Ribera Salud and EMRAD, the programme is focused on speeding up the development of innovative solutions that address the new challenges faced by healthcare providers.

The aim is to bring providers and the rapidly growing developer community together in a collaborative environment, focused on addressing validated problem statements.

Collaborative problem solving

“We want to work on problem statements that are relevant for healthcare in EMEA,” said Beger. “Therefore, we decided to not just work between GE Healthcare and start-up companies, but also to involve healthcare provider institutions in our programme. We want to address the issues that are impacting them in their day-to-day practice. This will enable the development of solutions that fit the needs of the end-users.”

Six AI-led start-ups formed the first cohort of Accelerator businesses, announced in June. All were chosen for the way in which they have responded to particular problems in the healthcare sector, applying AI to augment areas including medical imaging, and the improvement of oncology care and patient experience. They will be supported by a network of mentors from the healthcare technology, business development and investment sectors of the industry.

The start-ups are: Legit Health (a clinical data and communication tool for dermatologists); My Clinical Outcomes (a web-based platform that automates the collection and analysis of Patient Reported Outcomes Measures); Spryt (a smart scheduling system focused on screening services and no-show management); Radiobotics (automated measurement and detection for musculoskeletal x-rays); Lucida Medical (using Machine Learning and radiogenomics to improve the accuracy and accessibility of cancer screening); and Vinehealth (combining behavioural science and AI for personalised cancer patient support).

With some estimates suggesting that at least 400,000 lives a year could be saved by the greater integration of AI in healthcare systems, and up to 1.8 billion hours of clinicians’ time freed to focus on patient care, this first group of Accelerator participants are addressing some of the most pressing and specific challenges healthcare providers face at the moment.