Sublimd is a multiple award-winning software platform for digital health. It reduces administrative work to a minium and at the same time increases the quality of treatment. Among others, Sublimd applied to the Digital Health Initiative and was selected both for the Suva workshop as well as interviews with the hospitals in Zurich. Here are some insights with Sublimd on their experience in the program and their journey as a startup.

What would you like to contribute to the Swiss healthcare system with Sublimd?

Doctors and nurses spend a large part of their working day with paperwork and administrative tasks. We would like to automate this tedious job with smart technology to free up time for patient interaction and medical decision making.

How did the idea for your business come about?

We experienced firsthand what it means to work as a junior doctor in Swiss hospitals and spend hours every day with repetitive tasks like medical documentation. We thought that this should be made easier and more efficient. With this problem in mind, we started developing the initial prototypes.

In your opinion, what are the biggest hurdles to overcome in order to be successful as a startup in the Swiss healthcare system?

It takes a long time to establish a project with a hospital because many stakeholders with different requirements are part of the decision process. This requires a lot of patience and stamina from healthcare startups. Breaking up rigid processes and implementing data interfaces, e.g with other clinical information systems, further slow down the process.

What advice would you give other health startups?

It is difficult to give universal advice. Every startup is positioned differently with its business idea and possibilities. Arrange yourself with the fact that things will take much longer than one might expect. Think of creative ways to finance your business to bridge the long gap until you get your first customer.

Where do you see the biggest trends within the healthcare system and what is your role in it?

We think that patients will leave their passive role and become an essential part of the whole process by providing data via questionnaires, keeping health diaries and monitoring their health with diagnostic gadgets. We provide a platform for the interactions between patients and healthcare professionals with an intelligent data model to reduce the work burden as much as possible and support the medical professionals in their daily work.

What did you hope to achieve by applying to the DHI?

The topics of the DHI challenges appealed to us. The problems described there were similar to the ones we are already solving for our customers. We were interested to get in touch with healthcare providers who are looking for software solutions to become more efficient.

How did you experience the participation in the DHI?

We really enjoyed the simple application process which only consisted of some essential information about our ideas and was followed by an in-depth meeting with interested corporate partners.

What added value did the DHI bring to you as a startup?

Thanks to DHI we were able to connect with two important players in the Swiss healthcare system.

You have successfully partnered up with hospitals such as Kantonsspital Baden and USZ. From your experience, what would accelerate a potential collaboration between startup and hospital?

Usually, many different stakeholders are involved on the side of a hospital, like medical professionals, the IT department, information security, project management and finance department. To accelerate a project in such a complex environment, it is really helpful if there is a dedicated project management in place with a central contact person that drives the project forward and streamlines the communication between startup and hospital.

What would you wish for the Swiss healthcare system in the future?

Some hospitals already have set up innovation hubs to speed up the implementation of new ideas, which is a great step forward. It would be beneficial if hospitals supplied more resources to try and validate new ideas of promising startups.

Are you interested?

Find out more about the Digital Health Initiative or check out our other verticals within the Innovation Calls! Through our open platforms and initiatives, we promote socially relevant challenges. Further, we provide you with simplified access to leading organisations and potential clients.