Mohamed Haroun Ouanes, a doctor of industrial pharmacy, is the CEO and co-founder of GoStaff.io, a startup based in Tunisia and France that exchanges information between medical staff. "We are located in Monastir, a university hub with science and medicine faculties on one side and the IT campus, linked to technology, on the other. During our incubation work, we realized that everyone was working separately. We worked together for three years to understand each other's needs and come up with solutions.
HealthCare Novation builds bridges between healthcare and technology
The ambitious Bio & Tech incubation program has just been launched. The aim is to lay the foundations of Tunisia's e-health sector by bringing together medical and technological players. "We noticed that many scientific researchers were not finishing their work, even though it was very advanced and even patented, due to a lack of resources or digital skills. On the other hand, IT engineers were starting projects, using artificial intelligence (AI) and developing applications in the healthcare sector, but without bringing them to fruition because they lacked medical validation. So, we created the HealthCare Novation platform to build bridges between these two worlds.
To complement this platform and promote innovation, an incubation program is being launched for young entrepreneurs working in the field of health technologies. In practice, Bio & Tech offers a complete training cycle to accompany startups from the design phase to the first market tests. This project is supported by the Association of Young Leaders (AJL), which has been promoting innovative entrepreneurship since 2017.
From prototype to funding, the LEAN method
Integrated into the Flywhee program, a fund initiated by Startup Tunisia through Smart Capital in partnership with the World Bank, the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC) and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), Bio & Tech is part of the AJL's DEAL project. The program is designed to be comprehensive, from idea to prototyping to access to finance, and is based on LEAN Startup, a project management methodology for startups that prioritizes experimentation.
"We're going to select 12 innovative healthcare projects (biotech, e-health, health tech, etc.) that we're going to support from ideation to prototyping, to testing the prototype and validation to make sure it's effective from a scientific and medical point of view. And we'll go all the way through to market access and fundraising. The ten-month program will offer information sessions until the application deadline on 5 December 2023.
Building an eHealth ecosystem in Tunisia
“Beyond this incubation program, HealthCare Novation aims to build an entire e-health ecosystem,” stresses the young doctor. “The platform has a think tank for conducting studies and brainstorming. We also produce podcasts aimed at healthcare professionals to make them aware of the importance of technology.” Mohamed Haroun Ouanes added in conclusion: “It's not about replacing doctors. There is real potential in Tunisia to develop this segment of the market. In healthcare, as in technology, the country has real, recognized expertise. We want to develop this link, in a spirit of cooperation, for growth that benefits everyone."
