Over the years, the EU has increased its investment in health research and innovation to address medical and public health challenges across member states. Through programmes like Horizon Europe or, previously, Horizon 2020, many resources have been allocated to health-related projects.
During its 30+ years of experience managing EU-funded projects, META Group has actively taken part in many related to health, contributing to significant advancements in medical technology and public health.
Through international collaborative projects such as OXiNEMS, PHIRE, ECLipse, and STRONG-UR, META Group contributes to bringing new technologies to European society. Ranging from pathogens early detection to innovative regenerative medicine techniques, they hold the promise of delivering solutions that improve public health and contribute to a more resilient and equitable European health landscape.
STRONG-UR: revolutionising tissue reconstruction with bioprinting
STRONG-UR is a new project that aims to revolutionise tissue reconstruction with 3D printing techniques. The focus of the project lies on the male urethra, but the findings will be replicable to other tubular organs. Diseases of tubular organs, such as gastrointestinal cancer, arterial stenosis, or urinary tract fibrosis, can disrupt the normal transport of fluids, nutrients, and waste products in the human body. They often lead to tissue transplantation to restore function, but the current shortage of donors has increased morbidity, and mortality rates and poses a major challenge to the healthcare system.
To tackle this problem, STRONG-UR is working to develop viable tissue constructs for the fabrication of tubular organs, with an initial focus on treating male urethral strictures, which affect approximately 0.6% of the male population and impose a significant economic burden. This approach combines novel manufacturing technologies and biomaterials, potentially transforming regenerative medicine and offering new solutions for patients with complex tissue damage.
Bringing research out of the lab and into the real world is key to making a lasting impact. To ensure the project’s outcomes reach the right audiences, META Group is leading the Communication and Dissemination activities. As Clémence Contant, Communications and Marketing Manager at META Group, states: “Disseminating research results is essential for ensuring the project’s sustainability beyond its initial funding. Securing the attention and interest of key adopters—such as healthcare professionals and investors—is fundamental to advancing the technology and increasing the chances of bringing innovation to market for patient benefit.”
PHIRE: A photoacoustic imaging and AI-based theranostic approach for cancer
In a different sector but developing cutting-edge clinical technologies as well, is the European Innovation Council (EIC) Transition project PHIRE. This initiative focuses on improving the diagnostic and treatment of bladder cancer lesions smaller than 1 mm, which are responsible for 40% of relapses of high grade disease.
By developing a novel high-resolution theranostic medical device, PHIRE aims to identify and treat undetectable and chemoresistant bladder cancer lesions, thereby improving patient outcomes and reducing tumour relapse rates. Furthermore, PHIRE’s results will create new opportunities for further research into its application in other hollow human organs.
As an EIC Transition project, PHIRE’s primary goal is to validate technologies and develop business plans for specific applications. META Group contributes by managing the exploitation, dissemination and communication efforts of the project, and ensuring that its innovations capture the attention of key stakeholders.
Marco Franchin, Project Manager at META Group, explains some of the challenges that healthcare projects often face during their pathways to commercialisation and how the company supports them. “Within PHIRE, aspects related to intellectual property protection, clinical validation of results, and product certification are particularly relevant and require diverse specific skills. In this context, it is essential that, on the one hand, there is an organisation like META Group with extensive experience in managing the exploitation process, and on the other hand, research institutions and companies engaged in the technological development phase are aware of the importance of proper exploitation of the results they develop.”
ECLipse: Innovative technology for fast and reliable pathogen detection
Similarly to PHIRE, the ECLipse project is funded by the EIC, in this case, under the Pathfinder programme. Pathfinders are normally deep-tech projects with significant scientific and technological ambition and risk.
The ECLipse project is dedicated to designing a nanobiotechnological platform for pathogen detection. This platform aims to be economical, user-friendly for non-expert personnel, highly sensitive and reliable. By achieving these goals, ECLipse seeks to improve the early detection of infectious diseases, thereby improving public health responses and outcomes.
As EClipse’s funding period comes to its end, the exploitation activities are increasingly central. It is foreseen that the creation of a spin-off will help increase the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) and license the technology. With the support and guidance of META Group, which is the exploitation leader, project partners are also finalising the business plans for the most promising Key Exploitable Results (KERs).
OXiNEMS: Innovative nanomechanical sensors for high-resolution brain imaging
Last but not least, META Group also supported the OXiNEMS project, part of the Horizon 2020 framework in its Excellence of Science – Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) programme.
OXiNEMS, successfully aimed to develop oxide nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) for ultrasensitive and robust sensing of biomagnetic fields. By leveraging the unique properties of crystalline transition metal oxides, the project seeks to create NEMS devices with enhanced detection capabilities, potentially leading to breakthroughs in medical diagnostics and monitoring.
As part of the consortium, META Group led efforts to ensure the effective exploitation of results both during and after the project’s completion. This included overseeing intellectual property rights, developing innovation capacity among partners, and exploring the full scientific, social, and economic potential of OXiNEMS’ KERs. Additionally, META Group worked to define viable roadmaps for the commercialisation of these advancements, ensuring that the pioneering technologies developed through OXiNEMS could contribute to future medical and technological progress.
META Group, as Research Accelerator, helps researchers take their innovations from the lab to the real world. By supporting the exploitation of research results, managing intellectual property, and promoting collaboration among stakeholders, META Group contributes to solutions that address pressing medical challenges, from regenerative medicine to early disease detection and improved cancer diagnostics. These initiatives not only contribute to patient care but also strengthen Europe’s position as a leader in health innovation.