Junior Achievement Cyprus launched for the first time in Cyprus the ‘Beyond Pre-Accelerator Programme.’ The Programme builds a bridge between purely educational programmes delivered to universities and more advanced accelerators and incubators. It aims to give students the opportunity to work on finding innovative solutions to healthcare challenges in the field of oncology, while experiencing building their own company. During the programme, participants went through the entire entrepreneurial process, from generating business ideas to creating a minimum viable product.

This academic year (2021 – 2022) the programme specifically focused on challenges faced in the field of oncology. Based on the Cyprus National Strategy for Cancer Control, students worked on driving innovations and improving:

• Prevention
• Early Diagnosis
• Treatment / Rehabilitation
• Psychological Support / Reintegration / Palliative Care
• Cases Reports / Data Collection & Analysis / Research Methods

Beyond Pre-Accelerator started in November, when students from various academic disciplines and levels of study came together in a 2-Day bootcamp. Thirteen multidisciplinary teams were created and started brainstorming innovative ideas. In February, six teams were selected to continue in the programme, which was completed on the April 30, 2022 with the Demo Day, an event where teams pitched their ideas looking for opportunities.

In total 25 students of various Universities and disciplines have presented their innovative ideas in the field of Digital Health. Four students from our Medical School (Smriti Sasikumar (MBBS F Year), Vanessa Chow (MBBS F Year), Annefa Burke (MBBS P Year) and Liranne Bitton (MD Year 2)) were successful in completing the programme.

Smriti Sasikumar, Vanessa Chow and Annefa Burke were members of the team Knight’s Rest. Aspiration pneumonia is one of the most common causes of death in cancer patients worldwide. The team developed an automated wedge-pillow, utilizing the patient’s real-time, continuous physiological status (Heart Rate, Respiratory Rate, Oxygen levels or airflow sensor), to accurately adjust the angle of rest in the aim of preventing aspiration pneumonia. According to Annefa Burke: ‘The Beyond Pre-Accelerator Programme was an invaluable experience as it provided me with opportunities to learn valuable skills in business that I would not have learned otherwise whilst studying medicine. Skills like networking, building a start-up, money- management and inventing products to take to market were all a part of the process. I would highly recommend this programme to any student who is thinking about joining in the future!’ Vanessa Chow said: ‘The Pre-Accelerator Programme created an inspiring collaborative environment for thoughts, ideas and passions birthed from minds of different specialties. Being able to converse, collaborate and learn from all these voices opened new doors and allowed me to freely admire the wonders of what collaborative medicine looks like and the marvels generated through embracing each other’s work. Together with two of my friends and colleagues, a computer science student, and a business major student we created Knight’s Rest. This was a journey of teamwork that has given me lots of joy, valuable memories and has become an integral part of my growth as an individual and health professional.’

Liranne Bitton was a member of the team Diligens. The team developed an AI-powered tool that assists histopathologists with the identification of tissue characteristics and provides a proposed diagnosis on the presence of cancerous cells based on tissue components. As an MVP the team created a software in which histopathologists input biopsy images, and with the use of the machine learning model, carcinogenic areas of the images are presented and outlined. Currently, the MVP works with breast cancer as a starting step but in the future, the project will expand with the addition of new datasets that will allow the software to proceed with other cancer types. Reflecting on her experience Liranne Bitton said that: ‘The Beyond Programme gave me the opportunity to meet other students from other disciplines and universities within Cyprus. I was able to harness skills required for the development of a business and be mentored in the different aspects of the development of a company.  I had the opportunity with my team to develop and flourish a project into a business valuable product in my respective field of medicine. We are very proud to announce that our business idea, Diligens, has been awarded the 1st prize for digital health innovation (Novartis Digital Health Innovation Award) in the GEN-E 2022 exhibition in Europe which involved participations from 41 different countries. Finally, I would like to acknowledge and emphasize how the JA Beyond program has given us the opportunity to mature as individuals within our community and fields of expertise.’

Beyond Pre-Accelerator is organized by Junior Achievement Cyprus, sponsored by Novartis Oncology Cyprus and supported by eight stakeholders: The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, Karaiskakio Foundation, Cyprus Oncology Society, Cyprus Federation of Patients’ Associations, Cocoon Creations, IDEA Innovation Centre, Cyprus Seeds and CYENS Centre of Excellence.

The programme was implemented for the first time in Cyprus with great success, and it will be implemented again in the next academic year (2022 – 2023).

We would like to sincerely congratulate JA Cyprus, the sponsors, supporters and all students who participated in the innovative the ‘Beyond Pre-Accelerator Programme.’