Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital, a CataloniaBio & HealthTech member, has kicked off the Healthcare Entrepreneur Exchange Programme (HEEP) with Salford Royal Hospital in Manchester (United Kingdom). HEEP is the first open innovation and entrepreneurship programme jointly organised by two European hospitals.

The participants at both hospitals are from clinical and care environments, and will pitch their proposals for innovative solutions and technology. The five best from each centre will get mentoring sessions to develop their business plans and, after that, will participate in a pitching competition in September to choose three winners from each hospital.

In the final phase of the programme, the winners will participate in onebootcamp in Manchester and one in Barcelona to meet potential collaborators and investors and raise awareness of the innovative, scientific, business world in each city. The Barcelona bootcampwill be coordinated with CataloniaBioHT.

Other collaborators in this programme include Alderley Park, Health Innovation Manchester, ACCIÓ, the Barcelona Medical Association, the Agency for Health Quality and Assessment of Catalonia (AQuAS) and the Invivo Ventures fund.