Digital health companies progress to CivTech accelerator stage

Three companies have been selected to go through to the final stage of the CivTech Round 9 Accelerator, who all have tech-based solutions to empower women to better understand the menopause and access the right support.

The Scottish Government-funded programme has advanced 13 companies through to the accelerator round, including health-focused companies Adora Digital Health, Lumino and Cohesion.

The three companies were all named as winners, responding to the challenge: how can technology help empower women to better understand menopause and access the right support for their individual needs at the right time? This challenge was sponsored by Scottish Government’s Chief Scientists Office.

Adora Digital Health provides direct access to trusted health experts, such as gynaecologists, as well as a user-friendly symptom tracker. Lumino is working to develop a cognitive behavioural therapy digital product to support women through the menopause, while Cohesion is a digital health company that is exploring the delivery of support at the community pharmacy level.

The winning companies will spend the next few months working alongside their challenge sponsors, to progress their solutions, to develop a minimum viable product.

CivTech is an accelerator for digital public services and was launched in 2016. But unlike other accelerators, such as DigitalHealth.London’s recently announced inaugural Leap programme, CivTech is the world’s first government-run scheme. CivTech Round 9 has seen up to £7.48 million invested from the Scottish Government and at the end of the process, the winning businesses hope to win contracts ranging in value from several hundred thousand pounds up to £1.3 million.

Announcing the winners on Thursday 18 January, at the official launch of the accelerator stage, Scottish Government’s innovation minister, Richard Lochhead, said: “Solutions being developed through the latest CivTech Accelerator promise to have a positive and meaningful impact on Scotland’s society and people. Using the very latest technology, including artificial intelligence, we are tackling real-world challenges to help build a stronger and fairer economy.

“Our investment in the CivTech programme is creating tangible and accessible solutions. This shows the tech sector’s appetite to use advances in areas such as AI, machine learning, satellite, and drone technology to make people’s lives easier and better.”