We're delighted to announce the 12 recipients from our 'Summer 2024' call!

The votes are in! Last week, 12 project teams from hospitals across Denmark answered the call they were hoping for – news that their healthcare innovation project was accepted into the BETA. HEALTH programme!

This sixth round since BETA. HEALTH launched in 2022 awarded two BETA.10 grants in the amount of 1 million DKK and ten BETA.05 grants in the amount 500,000 DKK. In addition to funding, the project teams will each receive six to nine months of personalised mentorship from BETA. HEALTH's innovation experts!

This latest cohort includes two alumni projects:

eLi12 – Aarhus University Hospital ( Ole Köhler-Forsberg ) This latest BETA.05 grant will help the solution, which makes significant strides towards improving how lithium levels in blood are measured, move closer to clinical implementation. Read more about the original eLi12 project on our website: https://betahealth.dk/project/eli12

IMPRESS – Odense University Hospital ( Jakob Grauslund ) This project uses a diabetic retinopathy algorithm to identify and classify lesions, improving efficacy in early detection and blindness prevention. This latest BETA.05 grant will enable the team to further improve and implement the solution – and pursue regulatory approvals and patent opportunities. 

Newcomers to the programme represent eight hospitals from around Denmark, each offering an innovative solution that aims to solve capacity issues, improve early detection, or bring healthcare closer to patients’ homes:

AI-Improved Tumor Tracking – Hospitalsenhend Midt ( Johannes Thestrup Aksglæde ) This AI-powered tool automates 3D volumetric tracking of brain tumors, improving diagnostic precision, reducing treatment variability and improving patient outcomes.

ATHENA – Rigshospitalet ( Katrine Bredahl Buggeskov ) This AI-enabled decision-support tool aims to reduce the time anesthesiologists spend on preoperative patient assessments. ATHENA makes it possible to conduct these assessments remotely, reducing the number of in-person appointments for patients and freeing up time for clinicians to work on more critical tasks.  

Automated Pregnancy Screening – Aarhus University Hospital ( Puk Sandager ) Building on work that’s been validated with more than 9,000 participants, this solution aims to fully automate the screening of pregnant women for preeclampsia.

IAMHear – Aalborg University Hospital ( Lene Dahl Siggaard ) This AI-assisted assessment model uses large standardised datasets to conduct assessments related to hearing-aid fittings more quickly and accurately than is possible today – and with a considerable cost saving.

Novel Valve Modification – Aalborg University Hospital ( Tomas Zaremba ) This procedure aims to add an innovative approach to the existing interventions available to treat mitral regurgitation. This would provide a suitable therapeutic option for patients with a broader range of physiological conditions than is possible today.

Opioid-Free Pain Treatment – Hillerød Hospital ( Kai Lange ) This project uses a novel nerve-block catheter to provide long-lasting post-surgical pain relief,  thereby reducing the use of opioids.

Preventing (Re)Admissions – Bornholms Hospital ( Alex Kjøller ) Our first-ever recipient from Bornholm received a BETA.10 grant for this solution, which aims to optimise healthcare resources by implementing digital monitoring tools for patient assessments at rehabilitation centres. The goal is to improve collaboration between municipalities and hospitals in order to reduce unnecessary admissions.

ProPET Technology – Aarhus University Hospital (Mikkel Holm Vendelbo) ProPET’s advanced algorithm uses probabilistic analysis to support radiologists and nuclear medicine physicians in identifying small, hard-to-detect cancer lesions, especially in lymph nodes.

User-Operated Audiometry – Odense University Hospital ( Jesper Hvass Schmidt ) The User-Operated Audiometry (U-Aud) system enables patients to perform their own hearing tests with the same accuracy as as traditional audiometry, freeing up audiologists to focus on hearing aid fittings.

The Virtual Heart Clinic – Rigshospitalet ( Peter Karl Jacobsen ) This web-based platform enables patients to submit health data from wearable devices directly to cardiologists for review; providing quicker assessments, faster diagnoses and earlier interventions.

The teams will meet next month for a masterclass in Aarhus (‘West’) or a boot camp in Copenhagen (‘East’) to connect with their fellow innovators, share their projects and kick off their ‘accelerator programmes’.

Since its inception in 2022, the BETA. HEALTH programme has received almost 400 applications spanning all 5 Danish regions and 25+ different healthcare institutions – and has awarded grants, mentorship and accelerator support to 83 projects!

The next call opens on December 1st. Keep an eye on our website for more details: https://betahealth.dk/apply