The Edison Accelerator: breathing new life into MedTech startups
11 May 2021

With COVID-19 weighing heavy on Europe’s healthcare systems, healthcare and life sciences executives will be interrogating themselves on how to ensure readiness for the next challenges that the sector might face.

As medicine and technology become more and more interwoven, healthcare practitioners will need to learn to leverage the possibilities of digital technologies in order to maximise patient outcomes. Already today, 80% of healthcare leaders see growth or savings from using AI. Meanwhile, a majority of healthcare and life sciences executives want their organisation to adopt AI more aggressively. GE Healthcare’s Edison Accelerator collaboration platform aims to equip European healthcare provider institutions with the next generation of technological innovation that can save lives.

For example, the use of technologies such as artificial intelligence holds huge potential in diagnostics. Algorithms can quickly assess scans and decipher anomalies to provide much more targeted diagnoses. This could in turn help put doctors on top in the fight against cancer. However, if not seamlessly integrated, the use of these technologies can add several steps to a diagnostician’s workflow, adding complexity and leading to limited adoption.

That is where GE’s Edison platform comes in. Designed to seamlessly integrate AI based clinical applications into existing radiology reporting workflows, it efficiently manages these applications along with their execution and data flows by orchestrating the interoperation with various imaging devices, data stores and other information technology systems. With over 250 algorithms already registered in GE’s Edison developer programme globally, the platform is an incubator for the next generation of healthcare technology.

For start-ups looking to enter the MedTech market, access to data, access to high performance computers and the ability to run pilots can be difficult barriers to overcome. The Edison Accelerator offers the chance to work with a global leader in medical devices, with around 4 million imaging, diagnostic and monitoring devices in use globally, gathering data from over 50 million data points each day, and access data to further enhance their product or service offering. They can also receive mentorship on the business, regulatory and clinical validation protocols, and eventually deployment, and can receive support in adapting, integrating and launching solutions in the Edison marketplace. Meanwhile, for healthcare provider institutions, they can work hands-on with innovators for solutions to pressing problems, participate in the validation of innovative solutions and learn more about software development and the digital transformation. And of course, for current and future potential patients, outcomes will be significantly enhanced.

Investment
Story contributor
GE Healthcare
https://www.gehealthcare.co.uk/
@GE Healthcare
Key numbers
algorithms registered in Edison developer programme