University of Tartu leads a science accelerator for health technology research

The University of Tartu and SmartCap, a venture capital fund owned by the Estonian state signed an agreement to create a science accelerator in health technologies to support the establishment and development of deep-tech start-ups.

The aim of creating a new science accelerator is to help important ideas, knowledge and innovation in the field of health technologies and services in Estonia to materialise as actual business results as well as everyday products and services.

According to Mari Vavulski, a member of the management board of SmartCap, top science today is done in Estonian universities, but it reaches the economy, consumers, and the business insufficiently or with long delays: “The Estonian science is of the top world level, but its results reach everyday life slowly. The main obstacle is the long development cycle of health technology and research-intensive ideas along with the low probability of succeeding in the early stages and raising capital.“ Through the accelerator, the state supports the development of start-ups and the ecosystem as a whole.

“The pandemic that has lasted for more than two years and the growing demand for digitization, smarter data processing and new technologies have in turn accelerated the need to create new high-tech services and products in the healthcare sector,” explained Mari Vavulski.

To overcome the obstacles to development, the University of Tartu, the winning bidder in the procurement of the accelerator, plans to create and implement a large-scale development programme within two years. First, it will build a strong, competent, and supportive health technology community of entrepreneurs, researchers, and organisations. The programme is the basis for the concept of a science accelerator that identifies research achievements with high business potential and supports their market entry. Activities within the programme include training, mentor support, prototyping and business development services.

Creating comprehensive ecosystem

The long-term vision of the University of Tartu is to create a comprehensive ecosystem that is of serious interest outside Estonia as well. “A holistically and systematically developed ecosystem could in the future transform Estonia into a growth platform for knowledge-based new health tech companies, which is also attractive to the research departments of large foreign companies,” said Kristel Reim, Head of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Tartu.

The volume of the agreement concluded between SmartCap and the University of Tartu is 686,100 euros (plus VAT) and it will be implemented in 2022–2023. The University of Tartu will also involve TalTech, Tartu Science Park and Tallinn Science Park Tehnopol in the creation of the science accelerator.