How do industry partners make use of R2GConnect, the global scouting platform for the digital health market?

881 partnership talks between startups and established healthcare companies have been facilitated on R2GConnect since the launch in October 2022. The partnership requests primarily focus on cutting-edge digital health solutions catering to various healthcare segments. The most sought-after service offerings include Data Analytics and AI, Remote Patient Monitoring, and DTx. Notably, only 28% view investment as the preferred approach to drive innovation.

Partnering is #1 choice by startups and corporates to manage digital health activities today! According to the opinions & views of 790 digital health decision makers, 55% of corporates report that they prefer to partner as opposed to “make” digital health solutions themselves (34%). Partner scouting is the area most companies would outsource 32%. (“Partnerships in Digital Health 2023” R2G’s global study supported by R2GConnect.)

R2GConnect facilitates efficient scouting and startup evaluation in the healthcare ecosystem. Companies such as Novo Nordisk, Egis Pharmaceuticals, The German Ministry of Health, Merck Digital Sciences Studio, ACHA-Americas Continental Health Alliance, Ticbiomed, ORCHA, to name a few, have used R2GConnect to find hidden champions and best partners for their healthcare initiatives.

TOP 5 OFFERS BY THE INDUSTRY PARTNERS TO THE DIGITAL HEALTH COMPANIES

As of today,

46% of the corporate partners have offered Accelerator programs to R2GConnect’s global digital health startup & scaleup community;
34% have expressed interest in forming Commercial Partnerships with the startups;
16% of the corporate partners have shown their dedication to nurturing innovation by extending joint Pilot & Co-development initiatives to startups;
14% offer the startups to showcase their innovative solutions to investors, corporate team members and / or industry to gain swift recognition among influential decision-makers through Pitch Day & Competitions;
7% have displayed commitment by providing Customized Workshops tailored to country-specific market entry strategies and introductions to local authorities.

It’s worth highlighting that most partners have adopted a diverse array of partnership formats and channels of innovation to attract the finest startups aligned with their digital health agenda.

THE GLOBAL MARKET SCENE IS THE MOST ATTRACTIVE, FOLLOWED BY EUROPE & NORTH AMERICA

On the R2GConnect platform, the majority of industry partners (47%) are interested in the global market scene, with Europe (42%) and North America (14%) regions following.

In recent years, Europe has become an attractive healthcare market for digital health providers. As digital health start-ups are the key driving forces of innovation within the digital health industry, not surprisingly, healthcare stakeholders are increasingly interested in this continent.

Out of 51% of R2GConnect’s partners who have specified their countries of interest, the most attractive digital health markets are

Germany (30%);
USA (28%);
Italy (9%);
UK (7%);
Finland (7%);
India (7%).

Some of these countries boast sizable healthcare markets, offering significant opportunities for businesses to reach a wide customer base and drive revenue growth.

Interestingly, according to the opinions and experience of 638 digital health stakeholders and decision makers worldwide USA, Germany and UK are the best countries for reimbursement (“Monetizing Digital Health Solutions 2023” R2G’s report).

Looking at the digital health startups and grownups database on R2GConnect,

39% of the digital innovators are in North America;
37% in Europe;
20% in APAC;
4% are based in Africa.

Over 104 countries around the world are presented by the startups on the platform. (To learn more about the companies profiles on R2GConnect, please click here)

TOP THERAPEUTIC AREAS & SERVICE OFFERINGS OF INTEREST TO INDUSTRY PARTNERS

Many of the industry partners have broader open calls with being interested in novel / digital health solutions (59%) and not looking for a specific therapeutic area.

Having in mind the huge addressable markets and the strong growth potential, it comes as no surprise that the therapeutic areas with the most interest by the partners are:

Digital Diabetes (11%);
Digital Oncology (11%);
Digital Cardiovascular (5%);
Women’s Health (4%).

For example, Merck Digital Sciences Studios is looking for disruptive and innovative startups in digital biopharma.

The offer includes:

$150,000 via a SAFE;
$150,000 in Azure compute credits (access to Microsoft’s Founders Hub resources);
10-month hands-on accelerator program providing mentorship, coaching, training, support, community, and investment to enable the next generation of innovative technologies for drug discovery and development;
Opportunities to showcase the technologies in collaboration with discovery and clinical scientists at Merck;
Therapeutic areas of interest: Metabolism and Diabetes, Oncology, Cardiovascular, Respirology, Immunology, Infectious diseases;
Technology support is provided by Microsoft for Startups.

To learn more about this partnership opportunity and to apply by July 26th 2023 GMT-12, please click here

The top three service offerings of interest are:

Data Analytics and AI (90%);
Remote Patient Monitoring (86%);
Digital Therapeutics (84%).

To further showcase the importance of the above categories, 318 global key industry stakeholders also ranked Remote Patient Monitoring (50%) and Data Analytics and AI (44%) as the top two digital health services with the best business potential. (R2G’s “Global Digital Health Business Outlook 2023” report).

Similarly, R2G’s “Monetization Digital Health Solutions 2023” report revealed that Remote Patient Monitoring (41%) and Digital Therapeutics (39%) ranked as the top use cases for monetizing digital health solutions and for reimbursements.

FUNDING & INVESTMENT

Direct investment

28% of the corporate partners offer funding and investment. Case in point, at present,

Novo Nordisk, a leading multinational pharma company with expertise in cardio-metabolic disease management, is on the lookout for innovative digital health solutions for Metabolic Liver Disease (NAFLD/NASH) tailored for the German market!

The offer includes:

Pilot Funding: Selected start-up can receive non-equity funding ranging from 50,000€ to 120,000€ based on the pilot’s scope.
Pilot Implementation: a 6-month acceleration program alongside pilot implementation to supercharge the solution impact.
Collaborative Partnership: a close work with Novo Nordisk’s medical, marketing, and digital teams in Germany.
Expanded Network: Gain exposure to Novo Nordisk’s Digital Innovation Hubs in the most cutting-edge health-tech ecosystems worldwide.

To learn more about this partnership opportunity and to apply by August 7th 2023, please click here.

Additional Investment

9% of the briefing partners offer additional investments (e.g., IBM or Microsoft cloud credits, revenue shares.) Startups who will join the IBM Hyper Protect Accelerator 2023 program will receive up to $120,000 of free IBM cloud credits, besides a 1 year of technical mentorship, access to IBM’s network & a 3 month intensive Village Capital Investment Readiness Accelerator with bespoke mentor and investor matching.

No direct funding

The majority (72%) of the partners offer no direct funding to the startups. This reality aligns with the study results shared in the “Partnerships in Digital Health 2023” report, where Investment is only seen by 9% of industry participants as the preferred approach to drive innovation.

Industry partners like to offer business & strategic market insights and advice, sales & distribution support, technical know-how, tailored workshops, Pitch sessions, etc.

To illustrate this case,

Americas Continental Health Alliance (ACHA) an EIT Health Network Partner, is looking for health tech companies to enter South and North America!

What this briefing partner offer is:

1:1 on-line personalized coaching session.
4 companies will be offered 4 meetings each during which their representatives will learn how to land their businesses in South America & North America.
The following key areas: regulatory support, IPR, funding, collaborations with clinicians, public procurement, market strategy, pricing strategy, etc. will be addressed.
Introductions and support with the local authorities.
Total value of the tailored meetings – €2,000 per company.

To learn more about this opportunity and apply, please click here.

STREAMLINED PARTNERSHIP MANAGEMENT BY R2GCONNECT

With R2GConnect’s user-friendly dashboard, the partners effortlessly handle incoming startup applications (either accept, shortlist, or decline), ensuring a seamless and organized process.

Key functionalities available to corporate partners:

Viewing all applications in a clear and convenient Kanban view.
Assessing startup portfolios to gauge their potential fit.
Ranking each startup based on the most critical criteria for each published open call.
Adding notes to facilitate effective team communication and collaboration.
Engaging in seamless communication with startups through the built-in chat service.
Leveraging the recommendation engine to discover additional startups, enabling well-informed decisions about potential partnership opportunities.

To discover how you can use R2GConnect to find your next digital health startup, book a demo session here.