Two CRAASH Barcelona projects win awards in 2018 Boston Immersion Program

ABLE and iBreve, two projects participating in CRAASH Barcelona, won various awards in the 2018 Boston Immersion Program, co-organized by Richi Entrepreneurs and ACTION Innovation Network. These immersion sessions took place from 14 October to 2 November, with 14 start-ups from six countries.

On one hand, ABLE (Assistive Biorobotic Low-cost Exoskeleton), a project from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), was recognized as the best start-up in the 2018 Boston Immersion Program. It also won free consultancy services from product-development firm MPR. In collaboration with Institut Guttmann, the team is working to develop a light, low-cost robotic exoskeleton to help patients with spinal injuries walk again.

On the other, the team at Irish start-up iBreve won the incubation award to continue their stay in the United States at North Shore InnoVentures, an incubator that is a member of the ACTION innovation network. This way they will be mentored by experts, and get access to significant networks and workspaces. This project is based on a portable device worn on the user’s bra that analyzes breathing patterns. The technology gives wearers immediate feedback to prevent stress from reaching dangerous levels.

First edition of CRAASH Barcelona comes to an end

This brought the 2018 edition of CRAASH Barcelona to an end. This 12-week healthtech acceleration program is promoted by Biocat under the framework of the EIT Health bootcamps. It aims to train research projects to market their products within 3 to 5 years.

The first edition of CRAASH Barcelona had eight participating projects. In the first phase of CRAASH Barcelona, between April and June, the projects received training and advice through face-to-face and virtual meetings with experts from CIMIT (Boston), the most experienced health accelerator in the world. During July and September, they visited the ecosystems of Medicen (Paris) and Yesdelft! (Delft) to validate the market fit of their technologies. Finally, in October they went to Boston to network and validate their project in this ecosystem, as part of the Device Talks.

Biocat has opened the call for applications to the second edition of CRAASH Barcelona. The deadline for applications is 13 March.