Can your idea change diabetes management forever?

Do you have an innovative idea to facilitate change diabetes management forever? Want to see how your idea becomes reality? Do you have valuable insights to help co-create the diabetes technology of tomorrow? Do you have feedback to share with others in the community?

We are looking for innovators, co-creators, scientists and diabetes supporters from around the world to join our open idea call and be part of an innovative community at the forefront of diabetes technology.

Now you might be thinking, “That’s great, but what does it have to do with diabetes?”. Most people would perhaps consider diabetes as the opposite of a rare disease when about 537 million people worldwide live with the disease, making it a prevalence of 1 in 10 [3].

However, most outlets usually only cover the most common type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes. In reality, there are many other types which are considered rare types, and some of them are results of rare diseases. In this newsletter, we want to draw your attention to some of them, to honor all people living with diabetes – no matter how rare the type!

What’s in it for you?

• the chance to win USD 100,000 in funding and in-kind support
• a chance to participate in our one-week bootcamp with mentoring & co-learning, and a pitch training worth CHF 5,000
• access to a network of experts from the Diabetes Center Berne, @Diabetes Technology Society, and others
• a kick-start to your business with first class coaching and training
• a safe harbour where your idea remains entirely yours

Everything at a glance – this is the timeline of our 2024 Innovation Challenge!

Ema Grabenweger, Innovation Manager at DCB and responsible for the challenge, says: “Our challenge is an excellent opportunity for anyone who would like to get expert guidance on their idea in diabetes technology. Through a carefully designed process we provide a compass for innovators on all levels to efficiently & successfully navigate the complex landscape of developing a medical product or solution to improve the lives of PwD. We do that by offering an open innovation platform for exchange with the community, connection to international experts and mentors who can support to shape the ideas, exposure to venture capitalists and experienced start ups, world-class bootcamp training in the beautiful Swiss Alps tailored to innovator needs. Additionally, the top 6 finalists get to present in front of >300 people in Switzerland and have the opportunity to win an award of USD 100,000 in cash and in-kind service. All of that while having fun! Join our community and make your idea dreams come true!”

Ready to become part of diabetes innovation?

All you have to do is register on our Innovation Platform at https://innovation.dcberne.com/ and submit your idea! All former participants (excluding the finalists) of the past years can also apply again, given their idea has been developed further since the last participation.

Idea submission is still open until April 30 – get the word out and apply! You can find more information on https://www.dcberne.com/en/innovation-challenge/

Whether you are a start-up, a healthcare professional, researcher or an individual, if you have an idea or insight on how to improve the lives of people with diabetes, we want to hear from you! Thank you so much for reading and see you soon for the next edition of the DCB Newsletter!

Back in November, during our long-awaited DCB Start-Up Night, we successfully launched our very first crowdfunding initiative, supporting the People’s Diabetes Foundation Belize.

At the very same time, Bridget McNulty was on that same stage pitching for her initiative Africa Diabetes Chat as a finalist in our DCB Open Innovation Challenge. She scored second place in the category Digital Diabetes and we’ve maintained a valuable exchange ever since. Now, it’s time to combine all of those efforts and reach out to the whole community – to get the innovative Africa Diabetes Chat WhatsApp chatbot from the big stage into the hands of the people who need it most.

Join us in crowdfunding CHF 5,000 for the project and help us give South Africans with diabetes the tools they need to survive: Donate now!

Meet Bridget from the Sweet Life Diabetes Communityin South Africa

Sweet Life is South Africa’s largest online diabetes community. They’re a non-profit and a public benefit organisation, and the primary focus is on diabetes education that people can understand, and relate to. Diabetes is the number one killer of women in South Africa, the number two killer of men. There is no national diabetes education programme, which means people don’t understand their condition – they are dying unnecessarily. Sweet Life is South Africa’s leading voice in diabetes, and they have an innovative solution for the problem: a WhatsApp diabetes education chatbot! Listen to Bridget tell their story and learn how Africa Diabetes Chat will help many people living with diabetes in South Africa:

How will your donation help?

Your donation helps give South Africans with diabetes the tools they need to stay alive. We all know that “knowledge is power”, but that knowledge has to actually be in the right format, and the right language, at the right health literacy level, to the right person – exactly when they need it. A WhatsApp chatbot has the power to do exactly that and each donation to our crowdfunding campaign empowers more South Africans with diabetes!

Where will your donation go?

Sweet Life Diabetes Community has spent the last three years developing foundational diabetes education content that they have been sending to clinics nationwide in leaflet form. The problem with print, however, is that it’s expensive and difficult to distribute. WhatsApp solves this problem by giving them direct access to people on their phones (there is a staggering 96% WhatsApp penetration in South Africa!)

Your donation will fund the full-time project manager, content development (text, images, video), translation and – critically – monitoring and evaluation. They have created focus groups across South Africa to test that this chatbot is truly useful, and understandable. The community is at the heart of everything we do – and that’s one big part of why we at Diabetes Center Berne want to support this impactful initiative.

Donate Now and Help Us Crowdfund Innovative Diabetes Education in South Africa

A little donation can make a big impact for people living with diabetes in South Africa – luckily, Swiss Francs translate to a lot of South African Rands! Any donation you can offer helps more South Africans with diabetes get the tools they need to stay alive. Join our crowdfunding for Africa Diabetes Chat by Sweet Life Diabetes Community and help us make a lasting impact: Donate now on wemakeit!

For any further questions about this crowdfunding initiative, please feel free to contact Svea Krutisch at DCB or Bridget McNulty at Sweet Life Diabetes Community.

Thanks so much for reading and we’ll provide you with the next episode of our newsletter soon!

Today is 29 February – the rarest day of the year, only occurring every 4 years during a leap year. As rare as this day – or most of the times even rarer – are many diseases which qualify as “rare diseases”. Between 7,000 and 8,000 rare diseases have been identified worldwide and around 300 million people live with at least one [1, 2]. Rare Disease Day was brought to life by advocacy organisations as an opportunity to raise awareness for rare diseases and to call for a human rights priority at local, national and international level.

Now you might be thinking, “That’s great, but what does it have to do with diabetes?”. Most people would perhaps consider diabetes as the opposite of a rare disease when about 537 million people worldwide live with the disease, making it a prevalence of 1 in 10 [3].

However, most outlets usually only cover the most common type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes. In reality, there are many other types which are considered rare types, and some of them are results of rare diseases. In this newsletter, we want to draw your attention to some of them, to honor all people living with diabetes – no matter how rare the type!

Secondary Diabetes

Rare forms of diabetes are often classified as “secondary diabetes”, meaning that the manifestation of diabetes is the result of another disease or medication [5]. There are different types, induced by either genetic mutations, different syndromes or medications such as steroids [5].

MODY (Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young)

MODY is a rare form of monogenic diabetes, caused by a mutation in a single gene. If a parent has it, children have a 50% chance of inheriting it. With only 1-2% of all people with diabetes living with MODY, it is very rare compared to the common types. Because of its rare character, it is estimated that 90% of people are misdiagnosed with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes at first [4]. MODY typically manifests under the age of 25 and treatment does not necessarily require insulin. There are many different subtypes, depending on which gene the mutation occurs in [4].

Cystic Fibrosis Diabetes

As the name suggests, this type of diabetes is a result of the genetic condition Cystic Fibrosis. While people living with Cystic Fibrosis can also develop type 1 or type 2 diabetes, Cystic Fibrosis Diabetes is considered a separate type. It is caused by sticky mucus typical in Cystic Fibrosis scarring the pancreas and damaging the parts responsible for insulin production [6].

Type 3c Diabetes

Type 3c Diabetes is often also referred to as “pancreatogenic diabetes” – it is caused by damage to the pancreas, or its removal [7]. Reasons for the development can thus be an acute or chronic inflammation of the pancreas, pancreatic cancer or other conditions. Type 3c Diabetes can be managed with medication or insulin injection, depending on the extent of pancreatic damage [7].

Alström Syndrome

Alström syndrome is an extremely rare disease, estimated to affect less than 1 in a million [8]. It is a genetically inherited syndrome which affects eyesight, hearing and other parts of the body. As a result of Alström Syndrome, people often develop an insulin resistance and a type 2 diabetes [9].

Wolfram Syndrome

Wolfram Syndrome is a very rare genetic disorder estimated to affect 1 in 160,000–770,000 people [11]. It is often also referred to as “DIDMOAD syndrome” – an acronym for its four most common features Diabetes Insipidus, Diabetes Mellitus, Optic Atrophy and Deafness [10]. The Diabetes Mellitus which comes with this syndrome is different to other types of diabetes and usually manifests during childhood [11]. It is commonly treated with insulin, similar to type 1 diabetes [10].

There are many more subcategories and other genetic disorders that can cause the onset of type 2 or type 1 diabetes, or classify as an entirely different type. To mark Rare Disease Day, we want to hold space for all of these types and the medical diversity within Diabetes Mellitus. Whereas at DCB, we commonly interact with the common types of diabetes, diabetes technologies can benefit all people living with diabetes, regardless of type and pathophysiology. Our aim is to make life easier for all people living with diabetes – including extremely rare forms.

Thanks so much for reading and we’ll provide you with the next episode of this series soon!

[1] Federal Office of Public Health Switzerland: Numerous Rare Diseases and Many People Affected.

[2] Rare Disease Day: What is a Rare Disease?

[3] IDF Diabetes Atlas

[4] Diabetes UK: MODY

[5] Nomiyama T, Yanase T. [Secondary diabetes]. Nihon Rinsho. 2015 Dec;73(12):2008-12. Japanese. PMID: 26666145.

[6] Diabetes UK: Cystic Fibrosis Diabetes

[7] Marshall JD, Maffei P, Collin GB, Naggert JK. Alström syndrome: genetics and clinical overview. Curr Genomics. 2011 May;12(3): 225-35. doi: 10.2174/138920211795677912. PMID: 22043170; PMCID: PMC3137007.

[8] Diabetes UK: Type 3c Diabetes

[9] Alström Syndrome UK: Alström Syndrome

[10] Diabetes UK: Wolfram Syndrome

[11] Urano F. Wolfram Syndrome: Diagnosis, Management, and Treatment. Curr Diab Rep. 2016 Jan;16(1):6. doi: 10.1007/s11892-015-0702-6. PMID: 26742931; PMCID: PMC4705145.

This edition was authored by DCB Digital Communications Specialist Svea Krutisch.

Operations

👥 New DCB faces: We have continued to grow – six new team members joined DCB in 2023. All positions were successfully filled!

✅ Fully certified: The certification of the relevant processes for the DCB Management System according to ISO 9001 has been successfully renewed.

⛑️ Safety first: Studies were successfully conducted at the facility. There were no safety-related incidents.

Innovation & Business Development

🌐 Global Impact: Our team evaluated over 300 ideas, proposals, and applications, propelling the global innovation ecosystem forward. We identified and supported several dozen projects and startups, providing them with unparalleled expertise, access to our extensive network, cutting-edge facilities, and crucial funding.

🏆 DCB Open Innovation Challenge 2023: The DCB Open Innovation Challenge once again emerged as a beacon of success, attracting 66 applications from 23 different countries. Six exceptional projects from Ireland, France, Switzerland, South Africa, the US, and the UK took center stage, culminating in a thrilling Award Night attended by 270 enthusiasts from around the globe. We were thrilled to announce the winners of 2023 – Katharine Barnard-Kelly PhD with Spotlight-AQ in the category Digital Diabetes and Greta Preatoni with MYNERVA in Diabetes Devices.

🤝 Patient-Centric Partnership: In a groundbreaking move, we collaborated with the University Clinic for Diabetology, Endocrinology, Nutritional Medicine & Metabolism (UDEM) in Berne for a Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) event, aiming to enhance patient engagement in clinical trials and research. By joining forces, we are catalysing a paradigm shift in healthcare innovation, placing patients at the heart of progress!

🎓 Educational Endeavors: Empowering the next generation of innovators, we organised a Stanford Bio design summer school in collaboration with ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences. Students from diverse fields converged to explore and embrace innovation in diabetes technology, fostering a collaborative spirit that will undoubtedly shape the future of healthcare.

👥 Team Expansion: Adding to our strength, we’re thrilled to announce the growth of our team by welcoming two exceptional new colleagues, Ema Grabenweger and Hanne Ballhausen. Their passion and expertise amplify our commitment to driving innovation, making DCB’s Innovation Unit an even more dynamic hub of creativity.

Communications

👋 Growing our community: We’ve exceeded 3,000 (almost 3,500!) followers on LinkedIn and 500 followers on Instagram in 2023. We’re so excited our community is ever-growing and appreciate every single one of you, joining us on our journey of making life better for people with diabetes!

🗣️ Valuing Lived Experience: The people living with diabetes are at the core of all that we do at DCB. In 2023, we renamed our “Patient Leaders” to “Lived Experience Panel” to reflect this significance and help bring an end to diabetes stigma. We are so grateful for our continually growing community of Lived Experience Experts – currently 17 people in 14 different countries all over the world!

🔁 Team Switch: Former Digital Channels Manager Greta Ehlers moved on to the Business Development Team and handed over her legacy to Svea Krutisch, new Digital Communications Specialist. Greta continues to support the team in Corporate Design and Branding and we’re so happy to be bringing you the latest DCB news with joint forces!

Projekte

💸 1st crowdfunding initiative successfully launched: The first project for the DCB crowdfunding initiative has been identified and coordinated. As the platform of choice, wemakeit.com took the lead. The first crowdfunding goal was achieved, and the learnings will be incorporated into the next iteration of the crowdfunding approach – you can still donate to the current one for the People’s Diabetes Foundation-Belize until Christmas!

📋 Expanding the “Diabetes Technology Report” to Switzerland: To gain a deeper understanding of current best practices, technology maturity levels, and unmet needs, the “DT-Report” team conducts a comprehensive survey annually. Diabetologists, people with diabetes (PwD), and diabetes nurses are given the opportunity to share their experiences with diabetes technology. The DCB team co-created the 2023 survey and initiated an outreach campaign across various channels to engage as many participants as possible in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The results will be meticulously analysed and shared with the community and can serve as a reliable foundation for future DCB activities.

📲 QARBS app successfully developed and merged with SNAQ: After two years of dedicated work and a lot of learnings, the DCB team together with Comerge AG as software developers we were able to file a product to the notified body, which fulfills the requirements of the applicable standards of medical device development and software development. In October, QARBS was successfully merged with SNAQ AG to continue its successful story with joint forces. The project started in early 2021 with the goal of developing an app that automatically calculates carbohydrates of a meal. The result must be as accurate to become the basis for the calculation of an insulin bolus dosing.

🎟️ The organisation of various local events at DCB has contributed to gaining more visibility in Switzerland and emphasising our ambition to raise awareness for our daily work.

Clinical & Data

🩸 Menstrual cycle project: On December 14, Tidepool and DCB launched the menstrual cycle project. The aim of this research collaboration project is to collect data on diabetes management among menstruating people with type 1 diabetes to evaluate changes in insulin sensitivity across the menstrual cycle.

🔬 Clinical Study VAARA successfully conducted: In collaboration with the University Clinic for Diabetology, Endocrinology, Nutritional Medicine & Metabolism (UDEM) in Berne, the study was the first clinical study to estimate associations between volatile organic compounds (VOCs) measured by the Sokru device prototype and blood glucose. The study results will support further development of the device prototype and has given some insights into the dynamics of VOCs during changes in blood glucose.

🔎 Clinical Study FibreGum on-going: Under the supervision of our assistant professor Maria Luisa Balmer , the FibreGum study is running at the Children Clinic Berne, assessing the effect of an additive in a chewing gum on body weight loss. 28 adolescents and young adults have been included so far.

📥 Clinical Study SPN-005 Started for Recruitment: At the University Clinic for Diabetology, Endocrinology, Nutritional Medicine & Metabolism (UDEM) in Berne, the study will assess the feasibility of a noninvasive medical device, developed by the company Spiden, to detect, and track glucose changes transcutaneously in defined and dynamic states of glycemia. 20 T1D adults will be included over 6 months.

🤝 Preparation for a Clinical Study with BOYDSense: The study will examine associations between glycaemic states such as stable (hypoglycaemia, euglycemia, and hyperglycaemia), increasing, and decreasing blood glucose, and the VOC (volatile organic compound) spectra in the breath measured with a Gas Chromatograph-Ion Mobility Spectrometer (GC-IMS) device as a reference and a portable device prototype to measure VOCs. The device prototype has been developed by BOYDSense with the purpose to allow blood glucose monitoring through non-invasive breath analyses.

📖 Contribution to publications: “Comparator Data Characteristics and Testing Procedures for the Clinical Performance Evaluation of Continuous Glucose Monitoring Systems” was accepted for publication in December 2023 in Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics.

🔒 Penetration Test Successful: In October 2023, we ran a penetration attempt on our IT environment, which was successful in the sense that the professional hackers could not enter the system.

Thank you, dear readers for your loyalty and interest throughout the year! We will continue to provide you with new series, inside stories and regular updates in 2024. All the best and happy holidays!🎄 🎆

Every year, we celebrate #DiabetesAwarenessMonth in November, with #WorldDiabetesDay on 14 November, the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, who co-discovered insulin along with Charles Best in 1922.

This year, we had quite a few activities all throughout this significant month – from crowning the winners of our Open Innovation Challenge to launching our first crowdfunding campaign, renaming our Lived Experience Panel and far beyond. Read all about it here!

(Re-)Introducing our Lived Experience Panel

At DCB, people living with diabetes are at the core of all that we do. We highly value our experts living with diabetes and are committed to ending diabetes stigma in society, research and innovation. Because of this, we took Diabetes Awareness Month as an opportunity to rename our former “Patient Leaders”, initiated in 2021, to “Lived Experience Panel”! People living with diabetes are much more than just “patients” to us and we want to reflect this in the language we use:

LinkedIn Announcement

Our community is very important to us and we want to ensure that everything we do is person-centered and user-focused. Because of this, we took Diabetes Awareness Month as an opportunity to shine a spotlight on our Lived Experience Experts and ask them for their opinions and experiences:

What do you wish more people knew about life with diabetes?

If you could wish for a new product on the market, what would it be?

Why is it so important to end diabetes stigma?

Open Innovation Challenge

Our Open Innovation Challenge and the Start-Up Night on 9 November were at the core of our activities during Diabetes Awareness Month. We kicked the month off with our Innovation Bootcamp in the Swiss Alps and celebrated this year’s finalists and winners in Berne! You can read all about this year’s challenge in our last newsletter and in case you missed it, watch the highlight clip of our big Start-Up Night here:

Crowdfunding

During the Start-Up Night, we not only announced the winners of the Open Innovation Challenge – we also had some other exciting news: our first crowdfunding campaign was launched!

Until Christmas, you can still donate to it – all profits go to the People’s Diabetes Foundation-Belize. With only a small amount of money, you can make a big impact on the lives of people living with diabetes in Belize. The money will be used for life-saving diabetes supplies and will support the educational work of PDF-Belize, working hard to improve life with diabetes and remove the stigma around it:

Donate now and make a difference for people living with diabetes in Belize: https://wemakeit.com/projects/diabetes-supply-for-belize

WHO Global Diabetes Compact Forum

Just in time for Diabetes Awareness Month, we joined the World Health Organization Global Diabetes Compact Forum! On 2 November, the 5th meeting of the WHO Global Diabetes Compact Forum kicked off and Derek Brandt introduced us as a new member. We look forward to a long and fruitful collaboration – to make life better for people living with diabetes worldwide.

DT Report (German)

This year, we joined the German DT-Report – an annual report covering attitudes about diabetes technology. The survey is available for both people living with diabetes and doctors from the field. If you are from Switzerland, Austria or Germany, please consider participating to make a contribution to research:

DT Report (German)

To round up our activities of Diabetes Awareness Month, we want to point the spotlight back to the activities of our Lived Experience Experts, continuously advocating for a better life with diabetes in their free time:

• Lucía Feito Allonca is developing a Spanish-speaking international diabetes space, sharing news and information regarding projects, congresses, technologies, opportunities and much more: glucomundo.com
• Tinotenda Dzikiti is hosting a well-known diabetes advocacy podcast. In the name of community and inclusion, it was recently wrapped up under the name “Diabetic Mogul Podcast” and is being revamped as “Global Diabetes Insights” for 2024: LinkedIn announcement
• Leon Tribe is hosting a blog with accurate, impartial information for people with diabetes: https://practicaldiabetic.com/
• Crystal Diaz is the advocacy chair of Subtle Asian Diabetics, an online advocacy group for Asians with all types of diabetes to come together and encourage one another. Follow them on Instagram @subtleasiandiabetics and Facebook @subtleasiandiabetics!

Want to connect with them? Please have a look at our full list of Lived Experience Experts – continuously expanding: https://www.dcberne.com/en/community/

What a successful Diabetes Awareness Month it was – definitely one for the books! Thanks so much for reading and we’ll provide you with the next episode of this series soon.

This edition was authored by Svea Krutisch, Digital Communications Specialist at DCB.

Die DCB Open Innovation Challenge

The DCB Open Innovation Challenge is an opportunity for anyone with an innovative solution to change diabetes management. It only takes an idea to participate for anyone – whether a healthcare professional, a start-up, a person living with diabetes or others. Those who share their ideas receive sparring and feedback from experts. It all culminates in the DCB Start-Up night, where we award the winners for both categories. The DCB Open Innovation Challenge award is one of the world’s most generous and renowned diabetes-related awards.

This year, incredible 66 ideas were submitted to the challenge, with three finalists in each category. These six finalists from the U.S., the U.K., Switzerland, Ireland, South Africa and France pitched their projects live on stage in Bern in front of 300 guests and an international jury, who then chose the winner of each category.

But how exactly did we get here and what did the DCB Open Innovation Challenge look like? Read all about the journey below.

Our Top 20 in the Categories “Diabetes Devices” and “Digital Diabetes”

Before we were able to select our top 3 in each category to travel to our bootcamp and the much-anticipated DCB Start-Up Night, we selected our Top 20 per category:

Top 20 Diabetes Devices

Top 20 Digital Diabetes

The Top 20 of each category received mentoring from chosen experts of our network on various topics, ranging from co-creation experts to regulatory specialists. Additionally, we hosted a Pitch Training session before their big Pitch Day, where they could network and learn from our experts as well as their peers about how to improve their pitch and convince our jury.

The Innovation Bootcamp – 4 intense days of learning and networking in the Swiss Alps

To get ready for the DCB Start-Up Night with pitches and winners’ celebrations, we took all six finalists to a bootcamp in the Swiss Alps. Over the course of four days, we spent our time 1300 meters above sea level with a stunning view and mentoring, pitch training, 1:1 coaching, filming image videos (which were played during the Start-Up Night and we can’t wait to show you soon here on LinkedIn!) and of course, with many fruitful discussions and lots of networking.

But see for yourself! Our friends at Newsroom Communication were with us every step of the way and prepared a highlight clip to give you a glimpse behind the scenes:

The Winners of 2023

Am 9. November fand die diesjährige DCB Start-Up Night und Preisverleihung der Open Innovation Challenge 2023 statt. After an exciting evening of pitching, an international jury chose the winners of the third edition of the Open Innovation ChallengeThe first prizes of 100.000 USD in funding and in-kind support each went to MYNERVA (Switzerland) in the category Diabetes Devices and to Spotlight-AQ (U.K.) in the category Digital Diabetes.

MYNERVA, winner of the category Diabetes Devices, is developing a unique wearable device for people living with diabetic neuropathy. The device restores the sense of touch and decreases pain through a non-invasive electrical nerve stimulation driven by AI algorithms.

In her pitch, CEO Greta Preatoni emphasised the impact this can have on people’s quality of live, giving them back the ability to walk with more ease and without pain. After winning first place for Diabetes Devices, she shared:

“This was an amazing experience which brought us not only the win, but so many opportunities for development in the future. We are already thinking about how to implement not only the money that comes with the prize, but also the network that comes with it.”

Spotlight-AQ, winner of the category Digital Diabetes, is on a mission to improve routine visits by helping people with diabetes to feel heard and doctors feel empowered to care. It is a novel validated infographic assessment platform highlighting user priority concerns and immediate mapped resources to meet those unmet needs.

In her pitch, CSO Katharine Barnard-Kelly PhD emphasised the role this can play within the constraints of existing healthcare systems and structures, benefiting people with diabetes, while reducing burnout among treating physicians. After winning first place for Digital Diabetes, she shared:

“Winning the DCB Open Innovation Challenge means everything to us! We were really surprised, we are thrilled and it is vindication for the fact that psychosocial aspects of diabetes are so important and can be delivered in routine care.”

While the winners of the challenge received 100,000 USD in funding and in-kind support, the four remaining finalists – Fada Medical, ECLYPIA, Gluroo Imaginations Inc. and Africa Diabetes Chat (by Sweet Life Diabetes Community) – received 20.000 USD each, consisting of 10.000 USD in funding and 10.000 USD in-kind support.

It’s been a wonderful few months with the cohort of this year’s DCB Open Innovation Challenge and we are already eagerly awaiting next year’s! As Katharine Barnard, winner of the category Digital Diabetes put it:

“My experience with the DCB Open Innovation Challenge was exciting, intense, terrifying and just so much fun! It’s been an absolute blast and I’ve learnt so much.”

Now it’s your turn – it’s never too early to start brainstorming ideas for the next challenge. We’re excited to see what you come up with!”

Thanks so much for reading and we’ll provide you with the next episode of this series soon!

This edition was authored by Svea Krutisch, Digital Communications Specialist at DCB.