Over 300 identified startups, almost 3 months of work, over 60 patrons, and above all, countless unique information presented in the only Polish review of Polish medical startups. Thanks to the “Top Disruptors in Healthcare” Report, there will be no need for a clairvoyant to predict what the Life Sciences & Healthcare industry in Poland will look like.
About the “Top Disruptors in Healthcare” Report
It’s been three years since the potential of Polish medical startups, their current needs, and the challenges they face, was first shown. The passage of time has shown that providing these dynamically operating entities with the opportunity to present their potential should be considered one of the most important and greatest needs on the medtech market, especially considering that the “Top Disruptors in Healthcare” Report is the first and only review of Polish medical startups in Poland. It was created to facilitate the establishment of cooperation between startups and investors as well as other end customers, such as medical facilities, partners and patients.
“Each of the solutions offered by startups that took part in the Report is extremely innovative. Many of them may affect the future of the healthcare sector, or they are doing it now. Medical institutions also see the benefits of using innovations in health – as can be seen from statistical research, according to which the vast majority of startups create their solutions in cooperation with medical institutions. This is also pointed out in our review “AI is not Sci-Fi”, which is an example of already implemented solutions based on AI in medical facilities, and includes few of the startups from the Report,” says Karolina Kornowska, the author of the Report and Project Manager of The Polish Hospital Federation and AI in Health Coalition. “The startup market is growing and changing rapidly, but we are glad that the Report includes more than half of the startups that participated in both editions or in one of the previous editions. Observing the development of these startups and the increasing number of successes they achieve is very satisfying,” she adds.
The first edition of the „Top Disruptors in Healthcare” Report turned out to be a huge success. At that time, 74 medical startups were involved in the creation of the publication. In the second edition of the publication, their number increased to 115. In this year’s, third edition of the Top Disruptors in Healthcare Report, 144 polish startups and 14 foreign startups from Central and Eastern Europe present their profile and achievements.
“The Top Disruptors in Healthcare Report is the third comprehensive and extensive study of the topic after the first, very popular edition of the Report prepared in 2020 and the second in 2021. This edition of the Report describes 144 extremely interesting young medical businesses from Poland and – for the first time – also 14 from the CEE area, which are presented for information, investment, networking, marketing, popularization, education, etc., aimed at promoting and supporting Polish startups in the healthcare sector on the national and international forum,” points out prof. Jarosław J. Fedorowski, Presient of the Polish Hospital Federation.
Some of the questions and answers provided by startups are visible only in the extended version of the Report, incl. a current needs section, contact details, resumes of the founders, sensitive information, what the potential competition looks like, as well as accurate financial data. The extended version of the Report is available to interested persons and organizations against payment.
Polish medical startups in the healthcare service
The set of questions for the form has been designed in such a way as to enable it to collect the most important information about the companies participating in the Report. The authors of the Report identified and attempted to contact over 300 medical startups, 144 of which were included in the Report. Startups at all stages of development presented their solutions, starting with Proof of Concept and ending with the Growth stage.
“The transformation only takes place in practice if companies can thrive, find their target consumers, and receive enough financial and professional support from countries and governments. This is why I’m glad to see this report of start-ups in healthcare entitled “Top Disruptors in Healthcare 2022” being published by the Polish Hospital Federation and the Young Managers of Medicine,” comments dr Bertalan Mesko, Director of The Medical Futurist Institute.
“Medical startups are becoming a showcase of the Polish economy and an integral part of our health care system. Therefore, for the third time, PZU Zdrowie has the honor of taking the patronage over the Report “Top Disruptors in Healthcare”. The development of this publication shows how the medtech market is growing with new entities and successful implementations year by year. From the perspective of a medical operator, solutions that can improve the work of medical staff and increase the availability of care, as well as support positive patient experiences are particularly interesting,” notices Agnieszka Karbowiak, Member of the Board of PZU Zdrowie.
Statistics from the Report
What distinguishes this year’s edition are also in-depth research statistics, including information on the offered solution, data on the company and the team, the current needs of startups, barriers to their development and planned foreign expansion.
“The results of the Report confirm our experience from last year’s edition of the Google for Startups Accelerator: Europe program, which was dedicated to startups from the healthtech and wellbeing sectors. During this program, we supported startups in product development, artificial intelligence, business model, analyzing foreign markets and international expansion. We are pleased to observe the alumni of our programs such as Biotts, MedApp or Infermedica, which successfully enter other markets,” says Magdalena Przelaskowska, Senior Startup Partner Manager in Central Europe, Google for Startups.
Research shows that the target user of the offered product / service is largely a doctor or other medical professional (91 startups, 63% of respondents), as well as a healthcare entity (87 startups, 60%) and a patient (85 startups, 59%) which may result from the fact that most respondents strive to establish cooperation with medical institutions – startups indicated that the institutions with which they would most like to cooperate are medical facilities. As a priority in terms of cooperation, they were indicated by as many as 67.5% of respondents (97 startups). Investors appeared in second place (85 startups, 59% of the respondents).
It should also be noted that in recent years there has been a sharp increase in interest in medical solutions based on artificial intelligence and machine learning. Almost half of the respondents indicated that they are developing their solutions in this sector. It is a dynamically progressing development, which can be seen on the example of the data from the last three years included in the Report. Although last year the most frequently chosen answer was telemedicine (55%), this year it gave way to solutions based on artificial intelligence. This could be influenced by the looseness of pandemic restrictions, as well as the growing role of AI in health. The stand-alone IT application sector has also developed significantly. In 2020, it was indicated by only 12 startups, but a year later there was more than a twofold increase (28 startups, 24%), and this year’s number increased to 53 startups (37%).
“We are glad that Polish startups are increasingly seeing the potential of the AI / machine learning sector. This is definitely the future of medicine that will allow even more patients to enjoy a good quality life for many years. These are solutions that will protect against or delay the disease in many people, eg. by enabling the first symptoms to be detected many years earlier than it is today. Other important tools are those that improve the organization of the health care system – e.g. e-prescription,” points out Hans Sijbesma, Regional Vice President for Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltic States in AstraZeneca and Wiktor Janicki, President of the Management Board of AstraZeneca Pharma Poland.
On the other hand, when talking about foreign expansion, it should be noted that more than half of the respondents (52% of startups) are not yet present on foreign markets but have plans to internationalize their product. Another positive phenomenon is the fact that 22% of startups have revenues from the foreign market.
The authors of this year’s edition of the Report are the Polish Hospital Federation, a team of Young Medicine Managers, AI in Health Coalition and a team of experts in Health. The Main Partners of the Report are AstraZeneca, PZU Zdrowie, Google for Startups and OVHcloud. The Supporting Partners are DZP law firm and EIT Health.