Three initiatives competed for the Vintura Impact in Healthcare Award during the Impact in Healthcare event yesterday. After viewing three passionate pitches, the audience and the professional jury chose IV-Walk as the winner. The other two nominees were eNose and NightWatch.
IV-walk: prize will help me to take the next step
IV-Walk is a portable intravenous drip that enables the patient to move around easily, promoting mobility and recovery. Designer Alissa Rees developed IV-Walk based on her own experiences, having discovered for herself how limiting an IV pole can be if you have to have it with you 24/7, for weeks on end. Alissa Rees: ‘With IV-Walk, you can go outside easily or leave the ward, without getting caught on door handles.’ Alissa would like to get a team of specialists involved in the further development of IV-Walk. ‘I’d like to use this prize to take the next step, from a good idea to bring it onto the market. I’d also like to use the prize to develop a version for children.’
Professional jury talk about IV-walk
The members of the professional jury were Margriet Schneider (UMC Utrecht), Michele Manto (Galapagos), Daan Rooijmans (CZ Zorgverzekeringen), Hans Bart (Nierpatiënten Vereniging Nederland) and Bas Amesz (Vintura). Together with the audience, they chose IV-Walk as the winner. Bas Amesz, partner at Vintura, explains: ‘It’s precisely because this beautifully designed portable intravenous drip is so self-evident that it is extremely viable. You can immediately feel that Alissa has put a great deal of passion into developing IV-Walk. She is completely committed to her idea.’ In addition to the award, IV-Walk won a €10,000 prize and five Vintura Consultancy Days. Bas Amesz: ‘It’s a start-up like this that can best use the prize to take the next step. We at Vintura are happy to be able to help her do so.’
Valuable feedback
All three nominees (in addition to IV-Walk, these were eNose and NightWatch) received valuable feedback during interactive sessions with the attendees, including around 80 managers and senior managers from hospitals and other healthcare institutions, health insurers, patient organisations and the life sciences sector. By organising this event, Vintura hopes to bring the various stakeholders closer to each other and boost young, pioneering initiatives that could potentially have a great impact for patients. In doing so, Vintura wants to contribute to realising better healthcare that is both available and affordable for all patients.
Almost 20 entries
In total there were almost 20 entries this year for the Impact in Healthcare Award. The jury tested the extent to which the initiatives satisfied the criteria set for ‘innovativeness’ ‘impact’ ‘scalability’ and ‘collaboration’, and was extremely pleased with the high quality of the submissions.
