Accelerator Open Call
Ready to take your startup beyond proof of concept?
Through a unique combination of expert mentoring, specialised European HealthTech testbeds, business acceleration, and international collaboration, the programme helps startups validate their technologies in real-world environments, strengthen investment readiness, and prepare for successful market adoption.
Whether you are building AI-powered healthcare solutions, digital therapeutics, medical devices, remote monitoring systems, oncology innovations, mental health applications, or smart living technologies, DigiCare offers the expertise, infrastructure, and European ecosystem to accelerate your journey.
Why Apply?
It is a European HealthTech validation ecosystem designed to help startups reduce risk, generate evidence, and accelerate adoption.
As a participant, you will benefit from:
Access to European HealthTech Testbeds
Expert Mentoring
European Collaboration
Investor Readiness
Market Readiness
Long-Term Partnerships
Why Do HealthTech Testbeds Matter?
Healthcare innovation cannot be validated in theory alone.
Before hospitals, healthcare providers, investors, or public authorities adopt a new solution, they need evidence that it works within real healthcare environments.
The DigiCare Innovation Accelerator gives startups access to specialised European HealthTech testbeds where innovations can be explored and refined under realistic conditions.
Working together with clinicians, researchers, patients, caregivers, and technology experts, startups gain valuable insights into usability, interoperability, workflow integration, user acceptance, and implementation challenges.
The result is stronger evidence, lower market risk, improved investment readiness, and greater confidence for future deployment across European healthcare systems.
Explore the DigiCare Testbeds
CalmXR – Mental Health Innovation
CalmXR is an immersive virtual reality environment supporting the validation of stress management, behavioural health, digital therapeutics, XR technologies, emotional wellbeing, and preventive mental health solutions.
Participants work alongside psychologists, researchers, students, clinicians, and digital health specialists while generating evidence on usability, behavioural outcomes, user engagement, and implementation.
Best suited for
✔ Digital Mental Health
✔ XR / VR Healthcare
✔ Digital Therapeutics
✔ Behavioural Health
✔ AI-supported Mental Health
LivingLab – Digital Oncology Care
The LivingLab enables startups to evaluate digital oncology and chronic-care innovations within authentic healthcare workflows.
Working together with clinicians, researchers, patients, and healthcare professionals, startups generate valuable evidence on patient engagement, workflow integration, usability, interoperability, and clinical implementation.
Best suited for
✔ Oncology
✔ Patient Engagement
✔ Remote Monitoring
✔ Digital Therapeutics
✔ Clinical Decision Support
KogniHome – Smart Primary Care Environment
KogniHome provides a fully equipped smart apartment where startups evaluate AI, IoT, remote monitoring, assistive technologies, healthy ageing, and independent living solutions under realistic everyday conditions.
The environment supports technical validation, interoperability assessment, user acceptance studies, and implementation planning before market deployment.
Best suited for
✔ Healthy Ageing
✔ Smart Living
✔ AI
✔ Remote Monitoring
✔ Assistive Technologies
✔ IoT Healthcare
Who Can Apply?
We are looking for innovative startups that:
✔ develop HealthTech or Digital Health solutions;
✔ have reached Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4 or above;
✔ are at pre-seed or seed stage;
✔ are committed to participating throughout the programme;
✔ are ready to validate their technology within real healthcare environments.
Applications are welcome from startups developing innovations in:
• Digital Health
• Artificial Intelligence
• Medical Technologies
• Digital Therapeutics
• Oncology
• Mental Health
• Healthy Ageing
• Remote Monitoring
• Community Care
• Smart Living
What You’ll Gain
By the end of the programme, participants will have developed:
✔ Validation evidence
✔ Refined value proposition
✔ Regulatory awareness
✔ Go-to-market strategy
✔ Investor-ready Pitch Deck
✔ Funding roadmap
✔ Strategic partnerships
✔ European business network
✔ Scaling strategy
Programme Journey
Step 1
Prepare your documentation, validate assumptions, and complete the onboarding tasks.
Step 2
Meet the DigiCare community, programme mentors, and fellow founders.
Step 3
Business model validation
Customer discovery
Healthcare regulation
Validation planning
Step 4
Go-to-market strategy
Marketing & sales
Investor readiness
Demo Day
Step 5
Funding strategy
Strategic partnerships
Leadership
Scaling across Europe
Programme Snapshot
Format: Hybrid
Participation fee: Free
Target stage: TRL 4+; Pre-seed & Seed
Countries: Portugal; Spain; Germany; Romania
Learning activities: Workshops; Mentoring; Coffee Clubs; Demo Days
Validation: European HealthTech Testbeds
- Is the programme free?
- Do I receive funding?
- Which testbed will I use?
- Can multiple founders participate?
- What happens after the programme?
Yes. Participation is free for selected startups.
The accelerator does not provide direct funding. Instead, it prepares startups for investment opportunities, strategic partnerships, and future funding.
The DigiCare team will identify the testbed that best matches your technology and validation needs.
Yes. Teams are encouraged to participate together, although one representative should be responsible for strategic decisions.
Participants become part of the DigiCare Innovation community and continue building collaborations with universities, healthcare organisations, investors, and innovation partners across Europe.
