Healthcare innovation rarely follows the fast, linear path often associated with startup culture. In HealthTech and MedTech, ideas succeed only when they can navigate the realities of clinical practice, regulation, institutional decision-making, and market adoption.
That reality shaped Forward to Health Innovation, a startup support program implemented by Smion in partnership with the University of Zagreb as the Croatian EIT Health Hub. The program was designed specifically for healthcare innovators moving from early ideas to validated opportunities.
Rather than applying a generic startup framework, the program adapted startup methodology to healthcare innovation, where understanding patients, clinicians, institutions, and regulatory pathways is just as important as developing the technology itself.
Why Healthcare Innovation Requires a Different Approach
Teams entering the program came from diverse backgrounds. Some were students exploring newly identified problems, while others were researchers, healthcare professionals, or founders already developing prototypes.
This diversity required a program flexible enough to support teams at different stages while still maintaining a structured process for learning and validation.
In healthcare, startup validation goes beyond testing whether users are interested in an idea. Teams also need to understand:
- who actually uses the solution,
- who decides whether it gets implemented,
- how to validate needs with doctors, patients, and institutions,
- and what regulatory path stands between the solution and the market.
Forward to Health Innovation was designed to help teams address those questions early.
Adapting Startup Methodology to Healthcare
Smion introduced its Startup Drill methodology into the program — a framework focused on validation, structured learning, and gradual risk reduction.
Teams worked on defining problems and users, identifying assumptions, conducting interviews, gathering expert feedback, shaping value propositions, and deciding what to test next.
In this program, validation extended beyond market interest. The process also included healthcare-specific expertise, regulatory considerations, clinical context, and market-entry conditions.
That adjustment was essential because, in healthcare innovation, technical and market feasibility in classical sense is not enough. Teams must understand how solutions fit into real healthcare systems, workflows, and decision-making structures.
Tracking Progress Through Validation
One of the program’s defining characteristics was how progress was measured.
Instead of focusing only on presentations or overall impressions, teams were evaluated through their actual validation work:
- which assumptions they identified,
- what they tested with users and experts,
- what insights they collected,
- and how their understanding evolved during the process.
To support this, Smion combined Startup Drill with an additional tracking layer called Evalu8.
Startup Drill structured the work itself, while Evalu8 tracked the evidence behind it — including documented assumptions, validation activities, collected insights, key decisions, and measurable progress throughout the program.
This created a clearer picture of each team’s maturity and learning process, which is particularly important in healthcare innovation where progress is often less visible than in traditional startup environments.
A Two-Phase Program Structure
The program was organized into two stages.
Phase One: Problem and Need Validation
The first phase focused on understanding the problem, users, and market need. Through workshops, assignments, and one-on-one support, teams formulated hypotheses, interviewed users and experts, and developed initial value propositions.
At the midpoint of the program, teams went through an internal progress review where they had to demonstrate what they validated, what they learned, and how their understanding changed. This review also served as the selection point for the second phase.
Phase Two: Preparing Solutions for the Market
Selected teams moved into deeper work on product development, regulatory pathways, business models, market-entry strategies, and preparation for conversations with investors and partners.
The program concluded with a Demo Day, where teams presented their solutions to investors, industry representatives, and healthcare experts while receiving feedback for future development.
What the Program Revealed
Across multiple generations of the program, participating teams ranged from early-stage ideas to working prototypes.
The process helped them better define their users, development risks, market direction, and the type of support they needed next.
For the University of Zagreb as the EIT Health Hub, the program created clearer visibility into team maturity and needs. It became easier to identify which teams needed mentoring, which were ready for investor conversations, and which would benefit more from connections with researchers, clinicians, or healthcare institutions.
For founders, that clarity remained valuable after the program ended, helping them better understand their next development step, partnership opportunities, and communication with investors and healthcare stakeholders.
EMHANCE: A Startup Example
One of the startups participating in the program was EMHANCE, a MedTech company developing a portable non-invasive device for the treatment and remote monitoring of patients with neurological disorders.
During the program, the team worked on connecting with medical institutions, engaging doctors and patients, researching the market, and interpreting validation results.
That support helped EMHANCE sharpen its business direction, development priorities, and investor communication. After the program, the company continued developing its prototype, strengthening its clinical and market strategy, and pursuing additional funding opportunities, including selection into the Women TechEU program.
What This Case Demonstrates
Forward to Health Innovation shows that healthcare startup programs cannot rely on generic acceleration models.
Healthcare innovation requires programs capable of supporting the full journey — from validating clinical needs and navigating regulation to defining sustainable business models, preparing for market adoption, and building readiness for investment or partnerships.
The program also demonstrates the value of combining structured methodology, sector expertise, and clearly defined validation checkpoints. When those elements work together, startup programs provide more than education — they create meaningful insight into the actual maturity of teams and solutions.
Forward to Health Innovation in Numbers
- 3 program generations between 2022 and 2024
- 39 startup teams supported
- 100+ team members involved
- Around 6 teams per generation selected for the final Demo Day pitch
- 200+ stakeholders involved across healthcare, academia, industry, and investment ecosystems
- 5 VC funds involved through mentoring, selection, or Demo Day participation
