A study found at least 34 ongoing COVID-19 projects from European medtech startups aimed at supporting healthcare professionals.

The analysis was carried out by Oxford University data visualisation spin-out Zegami through Google searches and talking to people in the industry. 

UK-based companies topped the list, with a total 11 ongoing projects. This includes a project from Zegami which uses X-rays of COVID-19 infected lungs to build a robust machine learning model, a form of artificial intelligence, to assist health professionals to identify the virus.

Zegami’s proof of concept diagnostic tool differentiates between COVID-19 and other forms of pneumonia with an accuracy rate of at least 70%. As more X-rays and data become available to Zegami, it hopes to build a system that achieves far greater accuracy, with the potential to identify conditions and make predictions on patient outcomes.

WHY IT MATTERS

According to latest figures from the World Health Organization (WHO), there have been 2,041,705 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Europe with 173,213 deaths. The study identified the following med-tech startups running projects to help the crisis:

UK

1. Babylon Health
2. Doctor Care Anywhere
3. Patchwork
4. OnCare
5. Blue Prism
6. Alve
7. Medopad
8. Triscribe
9. Element Form
10. ElementAI
11. Zegami

Switzerland

12. Ava
13. Scandit
14. Memo Therapeutics
15. Intrepida

Sweden

16. Kry
17. Natural Cycles
18. Peltarion

Portugal

19. Covidografia
20. Valispace

France

21. Doctolib
22. Mirakl

Netherlands

23. Castor
24. Nori Health

Poland

25. Infermedica
26. LiveChat

THE LARGER CONTEXT

There has been an emphasis on technology in healthcare and public health to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, including remote monitoring services, telemedicine, apps and diagnostic tools.

ON THE RECORD

Roger Noble, CEO and founder of Zegami said: “It is very encouraging to see such a positive and proactive response from Europe’s startup medtech sector in the fight against COVID-19. Many, like us, are also providing their services for free. There is little doubt that the industry has a huge role to play in defeating this disease.”