The DCB – An Internationally Recognised Centre for Diabetes Technology

The DCB has made significant achievements in meeting the 5-year goals. The holocratic structure, in which the individual teams are responsible for their own work and projects and are given the corresponding freedom, has helped a great deal.

The ongoing support from the board of directors and from Willy Michel as the benefactor has allowed the DCB to further advance their development.

The DCB is now collaborating with around 100 start-ups from more than 30 countries. This number demonstrates that the Diabetes Center Berne has gained recognition beyond national borders and is being perceived internationally as a centre for diabetes technology. 

Prof. Dr. Lilian Witthauer and her team in the field of Smart Sensing and Prof. Dr. José Garcia and his team in the field of Closed-Loop Systems have successfully established themselves and are working on specific projects to sustainably improve the lives of people with diabetes.

“The close collaboration with our associated research groups allows the DCB to actively promote and support the translation of research projects into user-oriented and market-oriented solutions.”

– Derek Brandt, CEO

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For their Innovation Challenge, the ADA is welcoming emerging companies to pitch pioneering ideas in support of improving the lives of people living with diabetes. Five finalists will be selected to present in front of a live audience at the ADA’s Scientific Sessions in San Diego. 

 The three winning start-ups will be selected by the audience and the panel of expert judges from the Swiss Diabetes Venture Fund, The Helmsley Charitable Trust, and StartUp Health. Winners will earn an opportunity to attend a private event with the three judges and the Chief Scientific and Medical Officer of ADA, Dr. Robert Gabbay immediately following the presentation.  

Applications are open until 5 May. More information can be found here.

The app currently has over 45,0000 downloads primarily in the US. The approval is necessary to continue usage and to be able to offer an adequate app solution for more people with diabetes in the future, both in Europe and in the US.

“We from the DCB are excited to be able to help a teenager maintaining his solution on the market – a solution from a person living with diabetes for people with the same needs”, said Derek Brandt, CEO of the Diabetes Center Berne.

See also https://www.fox5dc.com/news/13-year-old-designs-app-to-help-children-battling-chronic-conditionand listen to the great story of Drew and his journey!

66 ideas from 22 countries were submitted to the Challenge, with three finalists in each category. These six finalists from the U.S, Denmark, France, Australia, and Germany pitched their projects live on stage in Bern in front of a hundred guests and a large fan community watching online. The first prizes of each 100.000 USD in funding and in-kind support went to GO-Pen (Denmark) in the category Diabetes Devices and to Una Health (Germany) in the category Digital Diabetes.

Simon Michel (Board Member DCB), Derek Brandt (CEO DCB) and Ole Kjerkegaard Nielsen (CEO Go-Pen)

GO-Pen is developing an affordable, reliable and sustainable insulin pen. Their vision is to make a difference for the millions of people living with diabetes who currently cannot afford modern devices. Derek Brandt, CEO of Diabetes Center Berne said:

“The innovation, the need in the market and the business model convinced the jury in their decision. GO-Pen has clearly defined target markets. For example, about 4 million people in the USA still use standard syringes for injecting insulin every day. This is exactly where GO-Pen wants to come in with its solution and provide those affected with a solution that allows for a simpler and more precise dosage of insulin, but hardly increases the costs compared to a conventional syringe. This solution can also provide significant added value for people with diabetes in low and middle income countries. Especially in these regions, the number of people affected is rapidly increasing.”

Pascal Grimm (CEO Una Health) and Dr. Katarina Braune (Jury Member)

Una Health, winner of the category Digital Diabetes, enables people with type 2 diabetes to understand what is driving their condition and to make simple, targeted changes to improve their health sustainably. For this, biosensor and lifestyle data are combined with behavioral science-based change models in a user centered certified mobile app.

said Derek Brandt.

The two winners were awarded with 100.000 USD each, consisting of 60.000 USD in funding and 40.000 USD in in-kind support (services provided by DCB and its partner network). The four remaining finalists received 20.000 USD each, consisting of 10.000 USD in funding and 10.000 USD in in-kind support:

Diabetes Devices

BOYDSense  (Germany): BOYDSense gives people access to gentle, non-invasive health monitoring starting with diabetes. They leverage molecules (volatile organic compounds) present in exhaled breath correlated with glucose biomarkers to accurately calculate the glucose value in real-time and a very user-friendly way.

Diatech Diabetes (U.S.): SmartFusion is an infusion monitoring platform for people with insulin pumps and automated insulin delivery devices. Their technology works by analyzing historical and real-time data from insulin pumps + continuous glucose monitors to better detect the occurrence of infusion set failure and reduce severe hyperglycemia from insulin dosing.

Digital Diabetes

Balance Health (Australia): Balance Health is taking patient engagement and centricity to the next level. A level where the clinician and the patient can collaborate to determine what CGM alerts the patient would like to receive  and  how  often.  This proprietary knowledge  acquisition  approach that  they are developing means that a patient will feel like they have their clinician checking their CGM data daily and messaging them if there is something worthwhile to share.

EkiYou (France): What if people with diabetes had in their pocket: A super calculator for insulin doses, access to dieticians/nurses to ask questions and access to a community of patients to share their experience? They would increase their time in range, would feel less anxious about their disease and would personalise their treatment in an autonomous way.

About the DCB Open Innovation Challenge

After the initial launch in 2021, the DCB Open Innovation Challenge took place for the second time this year. The aim of the Challenge is to promote innovative, international projects in the field of diabetes management. With a total prize money of 280.000 USD, the DCB Open Innovation Challenge is one of the world’s most generous international awards in the area of diabetes. Applications are open to start-ups, medical and research professionals, and individuals.

The jury together with finalist John Wilcox during the pitch day. Photo: André Raul Surace

Of the TOP 20 teams that pitched their idea to the DCB Innovation Jury last Tuesday, the following three teams were selected for the finals:

Ole Kjerkegaard Nielsen (DK) – GO-Pen: Affordable insulin pen for all

“We believe everybody should have equal access to quality diabetes care. The GO-PEN(TM) is a refillable insulin pen that works with a broad range of insulins and provides the same advantages as any prefilled insulin pen compared to injecting insulin from vials using syringes.“

John Wilcox (US) – SmartFusion: A Next Generation Insulin Infusion Monitoring Platform

“SmartFusion is an infusion monitoring platform for people with insulin pumps and automated insulin delivery devices. Our technology works by analyzing historical and real-time data from insulin pumps + continuous glucose monitors to better detect the occurrence of infusion set failure and reduce severe hyperglycemia from insulin dosing.”

Ben Delhey (FR) – Lassie: The first non-invasive breath analyzer for people with diabetes

“We give people access to gentle non invasive health monitoring starting with Diabetes. We leverage molecules (Volatile organic compounds) present in exhaled breath and correlated with glucose biomarker to calculate accurately the value of Glucose in real-time and very user-friendly way.”

The three finalists will attend a one-week innovation bootcamp in Switzerland in the end of June. The final pitches and award ceremony will take place on 30 November 2022 at the sitem-insel in Bern together with the top 3 teams of the category Digital Diabetes starting mid-July. The three winning teams will receive a total price of 200,000 US dollars, along with additional support. The DCB Innovation Challenge award is one of the world’s most generous and renowned diabetes-related awards.