CARE-GET: MedTech opportunities for young people in Haskovo (BG)

Along with losing young people, the city also exhibits a growing older demographic.  This poses a challenge for the Municipality and the Healthcare system as older residents tend to be  less well off and live in smaller outlying villages.  Many of them have complex healthcare needs but as they are less mobile, they find it difficult to access the medical and care services which are located in the city.  This group would be prime candidates for a telemedicine trial.

Haskovo haș an established and active association of General Medical Practitioners.  In addition, the main Regional Hospital is located in the city.  As a “teaching hospital”, it  has links with Trakia University and provides medical professionals with valuable practical experience as part of their training.  Although the main campus of the University is located in Stara Zagora (~55km from Haskovo), it has a branch in the city that trains nursing and midwifery professionals (to degree level).  In addition, the University has incorporated telemedicine into its training of medical staff and its expertise in this field will be utilised by the project.

The University also trains graduates in technology development, software development and engineering.

The Municipality, Regional Hospital and Trakia University are project partners.  The Association of General Medical Practitioners are aware of the project and are very interested in how it develops.  They could be an important stakeholder once CARE-GET moves to the demonstration and operational stages.

Medical technologies (MedTech) encompass the wide range of technologies used to diagnose, monitor, and treat diseases and conditions - effectively they are products, services or solutions used to save and improve peoples’ lives. 

Telemedicine is the remote diagnosis and treatment of patients by means of telecommunications technology.  The image above of a blood pressure device identifies one of the early applications of telemedicine. Medical practices are increasingly asking their patients to monitor their conditions and send in readings to the medical practitioner.  Where these are within normal limits, no intervention is required - this allows the practitioner to concentrate on those patients who need the most help.  Thus, telemedicine is the practice of medical practitioners providing remote medical support.  When doing so, they often rely on MedTech devices (the blood pressure device above) to capture data from the patient remotely.  While CARE-GET is focused on stimulating the development of MedTech, its availability could enable the valuable use of telemedicine within the Haskovo Region.

There are six key MedTech clusters in Europe namely: Grand East (FR); Medical Valley Nuremberg (GE); Emilia Romana (IT); Galway (IRL); Tuttlingen (GE); Canton Zurich (CH)).  There is also the “Golden Triangle” cluster in the UK.  Each of these clusters has its specialism and they tend to have evolved on the back of a source of knowledge or expertise (typically contained within a University) that has been commercialised.  Over time, these industry-academic links have grown, through positive interactions between universities and businesses, into something that is now of significant scale and value to their respective regions.  Haskovo aims to emulate this growth profile through CARE-GET.

MedTech is a highly regulated sector as citizens must be protected from technologies that might injure them.  As a sector, it is also evolving rapidly as new technology solutions come to the market. There are two EU Directives governing the safety and performance of medical devices within EU.  These were published some time ago and they are currently being reviewed to ensure that they are keeping abreast of developments.  We will report on any key changes in a future article.

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Schematic of new Hub, 2025, picture from Haskovo Municipality

The focus of the project is to create a MedTech Hub in Haskovo that brings together technologists, entrepreneurs and healthcare professionals.  The Hub will be created in a disused, but prominent and well-known building in the city that is a cultural heritage monument.

A core outcome of CARE-GET will be the creation of the physical Hub.  Initial surveys show that the building is in slightly better condition than first thought.

The University is actively engaged in outreach and engagement activities, finding the opportunity to work with the Municipality and Hospital to be particularly attractive.

In parallel, the University, Municipality, Regional Hospital along with LIP Trade Ltd, a commercial project partner that will bring specialist technology and software development expertise to the partnership.  They will be supported by the Bulgarian Economic Forum which will provide a broad businesses perspective.

The goal is to bring together young, well-qualified graduates who are entrepreneurially minded and are technologically competent and to link these with medical clinicians so as to develop new MedTech and telemedicine solutions.  Given the existing links between Trakia University and the General Hospital, these solutions can be tested quickly and efficiently.

In parallel, Haskovo Municipality will promote the attractiveness of Haskovo as a location to leading MedTech and telemedicine companies based elsewhere.  Expatriates working in these fields will be identified for tailored approaches. Established companies will be encouraged to relocate or to open new facilities in Haskovo.  The availability of a MedTech Hub will provide them with a base in the city from which to expand.

The Project will also engage successful local entrepreneurs to liaise with University start-ups and spin outs, providing support to the new businesses.

The project has four key components:

• Labour Market & Economic Development Strategy - this focuses on mapping the current employment and sectoral landscape, then developing a strategy that builds on strengths and addresses weaknesses or gaps through matchmaking labour market opportunities to local business demand.
• Skills Development and Industry Collaboration Initiative [Learning] - through supporting business engagement with academia, aligning skills offers with business needs.  This will engage policy makers, universities, entrepreneurs, and companies in the creation of an entrepreneurial MedTech ecosystem.
• Start-up digitalisation and business incubation [Growth] - focusing on stimulating start-up growth through utilising mentor support and accelerator programs. The goal is to create a set of new businesses rooted in Haskovo.
• Piloting Innovative Ideas in the Medical sector [MedTech Hub] - this is a key goal of the project.  By linking businesses that have MedTech capabilities with medical staff who have healthcare challenges, pilot solutions can be developed. This activity will develop the businesses’ understanding of the healthcare practitioners’ needs as well as strengthening links between those developing solutions and those who need to use them.

There is a further component, Transfer, that sees the project methodology developed by Haskovo being adopted by three other EU cities:

• Municipality of Druskininkai - Lithuania
• Municipality of Komotini -  Greece
• Municipality of Siena - Italy

These cities will start to be engaged in the project later in 2025.  Each of the cities has identified relevant “application” areas for MedTech and they will aim to replicate key CARE-GET elements.  When doing so, it is anticipated that they may have to adapt the Haskovo methodology to “fit” their local circumstances.  These adaptations will be valuable learning points that the EUI Innovative Actions funding will generate.

The first component - the Labour Market & Economic Development Strategy - is currently well advanced.  It will provide the foundation on which the other components can be developed

We will prepare another Article once the Labour Market & Economic Development Strategy has been finalised which will also provide an update on the MedTech market and the review of the two key Directives.