INNOPASS opens second call to accelerate innovation adoption in Catalan healthcare system

Integrating innovation into the healthcare system continues to be one of the major challenges in transforming healthcare and getting new solutions to patients. Although Catalonia has a leading ecosystem in health research, technology and innovation, many of the solutions developed still face difficulties in effectively accessing the healthcare system. 

To address this challenge, the Healthcare System Access Program (PASS), promoted by the Catalan Ministry of Health and Biocat, with participation from CatSalut, AQuAS, the TIC Health and Social Foundation and the Institute of Diagnostic Imaging, launched the second INNOPASS call today, June 1. The program is an innovation passport that supports solutions with the potential to transform the healthcare system and to scale up to ensure territorial equity. 

The new call comes after a first edition with 61 applicants, 59 of which were admitted for consideration, a sign of the high interest and maturity of the country’s innovation ecosystem. In total, ten innovative solutions from the BioRegion of Catalonia received the Innovation Passport and access to a personalized support program for one year: Aims Medical, Aniling, eVISIO, Inbiomotion, LoopDX, MAP-AD Test, Mediktor, MiWEndo Solutions, Reveal Genomics and Signatera.

The second call also targets solutions with a high level of technological maturity (TRL 7 or higher) with potential to have a significant impact on clinical practice, organizational aspects, society or the environment. The selected proposals will receive the INNOPASS Innovation Passport and get access to personalized guidance for one year, with support from the participating entities, including scientific, technological and strategic support services, as well as connections to key stakeholders in the ecosystem and the healthcare system.
 

Seven priority areas to guide innovation

According to the Catalan Health Service (CatSalut), innovation adoption must address specific needs and be aligned with the system’s real challenges. So, the INNOPASS call takes into account the innovation needs identified by CatSalut and is structured around seven priority areas:

• Transforming care management to improve healthcare with more efficient, integrated, results-oriented management.
• Personalized diagnosis and treatment to advance towards a more proactive model, with early diagnoses and treatments tailored to each patient.
• Real time data driven clinical decisions to facilitate decision making based on normalized, accessible, transparent data.
• Improving accessibility, equity and flexibility of services to ensure quality care regardless of location, social status or functional capacity.
• Prevention, promoting health and active ageing to encourage healthy habits, early detection and ageing with better quality of life.
• Mental health and emotional wellbeing to strengthen emotional support, early detection and comprehensive care for both patients and professionals.
• Communication and co-creation for a better experience to improve the relationship between people, professionals and the healthcare system, with a vision centered on patient experience.
   

Plus, candidate innovations must incorporate three transversal focal points: putting people at the center of the system, integrating the gender perspective and ensuring the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the solutions.

PASS emerged in response to the historical challenges Catalonia has faced in better connecting the ecosystem’s innovative capacity with the needs of the healthcare system. With INNOPASS, the program seeks to help the most promising innovations advance into the public healthcare system so they can reach patients more quickly, efficiently and sustainably.

The deadline to submit applications is July 31.