Innovators from the University of Cambridge have been named winners of the latest Health Tech Enterprise Innovation Sprint in London, after impressing judges with a pioneering solution designed to support pelvic floor rehabilitation.
Tamar Makin and Hristo Dimitrov, secured first place for their innovation – a non-invasive wearable biofeedback system to support pelvic floor muscle training.
The judges selected the Cambridge team due to the significant unmet clinical need their innovation addresses, the strong alignment between the healthcare problem and their proposed solution, and the way the team refined and strengthened their go-to-market strategy throughout the Sprint programme. Their progress and commercial thinking were reflected in an outstanding final pitch presentation.
Hristo Dimitrov said: “Taking part in the HealthTech Enterprise Sprint has been an incredible experience and has genuinely helped us sharpen our route-to-market strategy and MVP plans. We were really impressed by the expertise and support from the mentors and organisers, as well as the brilliant people we met throughout the programme. The win will make a real difference in helping us further refine our MVP and next steps.”
As winners, Tamar and Hristo received an Innovation Voucher prize provided by eg technology, offering complimentary access to their specialist engineering and product development expertise to help accelerate their early-stage healthcare innovation towards real-world implementation.
Sponsored by Kilburn & Strode LLP, the high-intensity Sprint brought together healthcare innovators, NHS professionals and industry experts to tackle some of the health service’s most pressing challenges.
The event showcased a range of promising healthcare technologies and innovations, including a digital pregnancy and postpartum companion; an AI-powered clinical decision support tool designed to support earlier diagnosis of rare diseases; a physiotherapy platform capable of evaluating and correcting movement in real time at the repetition level; and a next-generation urinary catheter concept aimed at improving patient care and comfort.
Designed to support NHS staff and clinical entrepreneurs developing early-stage ideas across medical devices, diagnostics and digital health technologies, the Innovation Voucher gives winners complimentary access to specialist engineering and product development expertise from eg technology.
The winning team will now work directly with eg technology’s engineering team to develop and progress their idea through solutions such as ideation workshops, concept development or design reviews of existing prototypes, helping to transform their concept into a viable healthcare solution.
The Sprint programme was open to clinical entrepreneurs and early-stage healthcare innovators developing innovations that address priority unmet needs in the NHS, who collaborated in multidisciplinary teams alongside technical, clinical and commercial experts.
eg technology Director, Rouzet Agaiby stated: “It has been a pleasure to sponsor the Innovation Voucher and support the Health Tech Enterprise Health Innovation Sprint once more. Tamar and Hristo are very worthy winners, and we are excited to be working with them to develop their concept. This is a unique innovation that has strong potential to make a positive impact on pelvic floor health, and we look forward to sharing our engineering expertise to help them bridge the gap between innovation and a market-ready product”.
