On October 24 the team of Business Agency Association presented HOCARE project and the project outputs at Varna Startup Week in HealthTech, 5-days long event gathering young innovators, mentors, academia and investors to boost the entrepreneurial activity in Varna in specific sectors. This year it was aimed at HealthTech sector, being hosted by Medical University of Varna and organised by Beehive co-working space. During the conference that precedes a startup hackathon weekend aimed at supporting startups in HealthTech the project senior expert Mrs Silvia Stumpf presented how the generation of innovative Home Care solutions in regional innovation chains could be boosted by strengthening the cooperation of actors in regional innovation ecosystems using Quadruple-helix approach. Around 40 participants took place in the event - startup and serial entrepreneurs, investors, senior experts, business analysts, academia representatives, students, guests from other countries interested in partnering in the HealthTech sector. Based on the extensive research from the interregional cooperation within HoCare project Mrs Stumpf explained what are the main drivers for public driven innovation in health/home sector and how startups could answer the unmet needs in the sector and how they can accelerate the quicker access to the market using PPI approach.
The slow digitalization of Bulgaria puts at risk the competitiveness of the Bulgarian economy, although the ICT industry is doing great in general. Bulgaria has the needed prerequisites in infrastructure and human workforce, a great potential and capacity for triggering a vast deployment of successful market innovations in the health care – innovative companies, qualified experts, leading researchers and available funding. Using the expertise gathered through HOCare project Mrs Stumpf accentuated that what slows the process is the weak cooperation within the Quadruple-helix model participants, which includes also the end users. She described how the concept could intensify the ICT innovations projects in health and in home sector. Good practices of partners have been discussed and the relevant studies and analysis further promoted amongst a larger circle of stakeholders in Bulgaria and the growing community of startups.
