Health Innovators

Health innovators is a 3 month programme for students with ambitions to work with problems or ideas to create better health. The programme gives you the tools to make your idea happen.

The problem or the idea you bring into the programme can be in public health, digital health, biotech, pharma, healthcare training & education, communication or something completely different in healthcare. The programme support ideas in every aspect of health and students and entrepreneurs from all areas of study can apply.

Why apply

Some students end up making collaborations with the healthcare sector or even start the foundation of their own startup. But most importantly: During the programme you will learn the process of how to take an idea and put it into practice. This includes learning practical skills such as:

• Qualifying and validating ideas
• Development of pilots and prototypes
  
• Business modeling 
• Regulatory pathways including clinical trials and CE-marking for medical devices

Develop your interpersonal competences
Furthermore, the programme will be a playground for you to improve your interpersonal competences including:

• Productivity
• Creativity
• Leadership
• Working across industries
• Pitching

Extend your network

You get unique access to experts in health care and thereby increase your network within the specialized filed you work with. You gain insights on how to developed your solutions in health. You build a strong network to students and entrepreneurs across disciplines who all aim to make a difference for better health and become part of a community. The programme supports you in making your idea reality either as a startup or in collaboration with partners the healthcare ecosystem.

We learned valuable skills to help propel our start-up from just 3 students with an idea to now a team of 7 working on the startup. We learned to pitch our company, tell our story, and work as a team! Most importantly, I think, by being part of Health Innovators you get access to business development to connect you with the right people at the right time

The programme

Health Innovators starts with a boot camp to kick-start your idea development. You'll meet other teams, learn about the entrepreneurial journey, and set your goals for the programme.

Throughout the programme, you'll participate in mandatory workshops and status meetings to guide you in translating ideas into action in the health sector. These workshops provide insights on patient and stakeholder engagement, co-creation, and need-driven innovation. You'll learn to navigate the healthcare market and address regulatory issues. Additionally, you'll connect with experts from the startup ecosystem, hospitals, clinics, and more.

Deadline: March 2nd 2025 (applicants are invited to a short interview after the deadline) 
Dates: Programme runs March-May 2025 with workshops & 1-1 business development.  

Mar. 18th – Bootcamp  12:30 – 18:00

Apr. 1st – Insights from the health care sector 15-18

Apr. 8th – Explore the potentials in the future health care sector 15-18 [Optional] 

Apr.23rd – How to boost your startup with AI 15-17.30 [Optional] 

Apr. 29th –Fireside chat: Business Development in the health care sector 16-18

May. 6th – Prototyping 15-18 [Optional]

May. 20th – Pitch & Storytelling for creating impact in health 15-18 

May 27th – Final event & Celebration 15-19 

Your team take part in 1-1 status meetings throughout the programme. The meetings are personalized to your current challenges and focus on business development, team & project management, access to stakeholders in healthcare, feedback on fundraising and other themes relevant for your idea.

The programme gave us the opportunity to merge our studies with the health business area. We learned how to shape and communicate our health start-up sharply and comprehensively with pitch training, business development and a lot of personalized mentoring”

Who can apply?

Health Innovators 2025 is run in partnership between University of Copenhagen, Københavns Professionshøjskole, Copenhagen Health Innovation (CHI)/The Capital Region and IT-University.

The Health Innovators programme is open for students from all Danish universities with priority given to applicants from the Health Innovators partner organisations. Deadline for the application is March 2nd 2025 (23:59).

• Persons or teams with at least one founding team member who is an active student or researcher at a Danish educational institution. 
• We welcome students from all institutions of higher education, regardless of affiliation. 

Priority Considerations: 

• Priority is given to qualified teams with active students/researchers from the hosting institution, the University of Copenhagen (UCPH), and the partner institutions (ITU & KP) aiming to create a diverse cohort, with respect to the total capacity of 30 participates.
• Early-stage development teams are prioritized. Teams at a more advanced stage (e.g., market presence) aiming to pivot or scale are welcome to apply.  
• The programme values diversity and prioritizes teams with varied backgrounds, disciplines, and institutions. 
• Applicants are assessed based on the selection criteria.

Health Innovators is a specialized programme for students and entrepreneurs developing new solutions for the health care sector.

It is a joint programme in Copenhagen Health Innovation – a partnership with University of Copenhagen The Pipeline & KU Lighthouse, University College Copenhagen, ITU and the Capital Region.