Over the past few weeks, the Faculty of Life Sciences hosted a business game called MedTech Start-up. As part of this business game, students from the Digital Biomedical and Health Sciences Bachelor programme worked in teams with a regional medical technology company. The aim of this business game was to discuss and develop possible product ideas, then turn them into a business plan. A 'spin-off' was realistically simulated -- from brainstorming, product development, marketing, and financial planning to pitching to a panel of experts. The event gave students the opportunity to gain practical experience in building a medical technology start-up at an early stage of their studies and to make valuable contacts in the regional business community.
In addition to us, four other companies were happy to work with the students on their ideas: adesso SE, Heuel & Löher GmbH & Co. KG, Lohmann & Rauscher GmbH & Co. KG and medmehr GmbH
The simulation started on 8 May with an introduction of the participating companies to the students, who then split into groups. On 15 May, our group of students visited us at the CONZE Academy. After a short round of introductions, we started with a brainstorming workshop to identify problems in current patient care and develop possible approaches for product innovation. After clustering the approaches, specific research objectives were defined and worked on by smaller teams of experts. Based on this research, the students decided to develop a solution for language barriers in care. Thus the idea for Diseasy was born.
In the following weeks, weekly meetings were held to discuss the current status of the group and to look at the key aspects of the business plan.
On June 5th, the students presented their first interim results in a 10-minute pitch together with their product idea to the lecturers. In the following weeks, with the help of the feedback received, we revised the concept together and added a financial plan to complete the business plan. On July 10th, the students pitched their solution Diseasy to a panel of experts. Diseasy is an all-in-one app-based platform for understanding, planning and taking medication correctly. The aim is to overcome language barriers by providing the necessary information in different languages and at different language levels, from medical jargon to everyday language. In keeping with the motto: "Easy to scan, easy to understand".
Looking back, the simulation was a complete success and will certainly be continued in future years. Lecturers Dr. Olaf Gaus and Dr. Kai Hahn were pleased with the results and thanked both the students for their excellent work and the companies for their active participation and support. The experience gained will certainly be of great benefit to the students in their future careers. We look forward to the next event!
