SmartRespDx · Development of a scalable respiratory diagnostic platform

Chronic respiratory diseases affect 10% of people and are the third cause of death worldwide. They cause significant disability and social exclusion. A key problem is the large under and misdiagnosis of such diseases. Late diagnosis of the diseases leads to lack of treatment and a rapid decline of the disease causing severe exacerbation, frequent hospitalization and high mortality with huge costs to the healthcare systems.Through design thinking and lean methodology we discovered a market opportunity. The current tools in primary care are not suited for non-specialists to tackle lung disease diagnosis. They require difficult breathing procedures from the patients, leading to inaccurate tests and incorrect diagnosis. It also creates mistrust in the technologies leading to underdiagnosis through lack of testing.Our solution is a quick, easy and accurate tool that doesn't require patient effort. It can be used in any clinical setting, but is particularly suited for non-specialists in primary care for disease diagnosis and monitoring. The output is trained on the lung experts' decisions, providing a diagnostic support tool for quick and effective decision-making where it is needed most. Early diagnosis and follow-up allows clinicians to intervene and educate the patient when treatment can still have a positive effect on their lung function and reduces the huge burden to the healthcare system due to avoidance of the severe stages of the disease, saving an estimated 5 BN € in the EU from hospitalizations alone.The WomenTechEU program provides the unique opportunity to test our technology in the clinical setting to reach a TRL5/6 from current TRL4 and protect our intellectual property. It also means we can strengthen our gender and diversity hiring processes and develop our leadership skills. The project achieves a major milestone and creates the required evidence to add significant value to our company and attract private seed investment to move us closer to market.