DO!

Bart has been building software for healthcare since 1990 and is passionate about the possibilities of technology in healthcare.

From 1995 to the end of 2019 he has been the director of a care home for the elderly.

Together with organisations such as HealthStartup, Advance.Healthcare and Healthskouts, he organises intensive activities to improve care. The emphasis is always on achieving concrete results and mainly on ‘DO!’. In addition, he sits on various advisory boards (SXSW, ICT&Health, Rockstart, eHealth Hub, AI4Health, etc.), is a partner at Healthtech.Belgium and served as Country Lead for HIMSS.

Today he is also setting up - as a system entrepreneur - a process of continuous care innovation at In4Care, a member association of +400 care institutions. Together with Bureau Zorginnovatie he's bringing the Health Innovation School to Belgium and other regions.

At every organisation, the focus is "Superfast delivery of concrete results that improve healthcare delivery". 

Building software

Build JPLAN in 2003, a web based planning tool for 24/7 healthcare workforce with output to payroll. (Link to deck)

Build CALBLOX in 2013, a web based task assignment and registration tool for healthcare workers, optimised for tablets. (Link to deck)

Healthstartup

Between 2011 - 2013 Healthstartup organised 5 international events with a very punchy format (format link). Some named it a 1-day accelerator, other people say Healthstartup was the first digital health accelerator in EU. 99% of visitors wanted to be invited automatically to a next event. 100% of startups publicly stated the value of the events (feedback, insights, network, …) was unparalleled. We were honoured this feedback came from startups like: Biovotion (acquired by Biofourmis), Neuroathome (Rehametrics), Apervita (formerly Pervasive Health), Mimedication, Braincontrol, e-Glas, Sensimed, Sense OS (now Sense Health), Genokey, Cognuse, MyClinicalOutcomes, Labtowellness, Jintronix, Glucowise, Optimalmedicine, Virtuix (Omni) …), …

Some of our preparatory work was appreciated by a large audience (like +200K views for this overview for novel rehabilitation technologies)

Accelerator Hackathons

Both with Healthstartup as with Advance.Healthcare we organised 4 public hackathons (Hack4Health 2x, Hackepilepsy & Mhealth Hackathon). The term ‘hackathon’ might be misplaced because the format we used was much much more than a pure weekend event. The entire process spanned 6 to 9 months and not only dealt with the weekend event, but also: problem identification, buy in from future interested parties, team composition, media attention and post-hackathon follow-up. 

There is no hackathon formula worldwide which is as successful as the ones we organised when you use ‘spawned successful companies’ as a metric. 7 companies spawned from the 4 hackathons and they are still active: Lindacare, Helpilepsy, Neurish, Epihunter, Yagram, Momala & MoveUP.
On top of that 1 of the hackathons was the incentive for the Belgian Government to start MhealthBelgium, a validation platform for digital applications.

In4Care Formats

PILOTS TABLE: Slow high cuisine meets hyper networking and innovation. Outcome: Shorten time for startup 'absorption' in healthcare organisations.

TRANSFORMER SUMMIT: Super intense 2-day brainstorm with a very select audience of hospital CEO's, top policy makers, honoured academics, board members of large healthcare organisations, industry leaders and entrepreneurs. Outcome: Concrete actionable advice on how to tackle future challenges tomorrow.

DEBBI: Experience box for healthcare staff and patients. Outcome: faster adoption of new technology in healthcare organisations.

FAITH: the Future of Accelerating Innovations & Technology in Healthcare. Outcome: Booklet with concrete advice on how to accelerate innovations in the future.
GOOD2Know: Short, regional meetings centered on a single topic are held in which participants engage in "lightning round" discussions, exchanging knowledge and concrete solutions regarding specific problems. If any problems remain unresolved, they are escalated to a larger network.

Health Innovation School Belgium

Simply being innovative is not sufficient. It is important to train individuals at all levels of the organization to embrace innovation. A complete transformation of the entire organization is necessary for this. Unfortunately, current training and courses focus only on management levels or deeply delve into a single process. Are there any broad/generalist innovation courses for healthcare professionals on the work floor or for entrepreneurial patients or caregivers? Aside from the occasional workshop, they are hard to come by. 

This is why we are introducing the Health Innovation School to Belgium, in response to the growing need for change within organizations and among individuals. The speed, scale, and complexity of present-day health and healthcare disruption far exceed what we experienced in the last century. Rather than working harder, we need to work smarter. Innovation is key to the transformation of health and care, and Belgian healthcare organizations and players need to focus on that.

The Health Innovation School covers various topics, including healthcare structures, legislation, validation, reimbursement, collaboration, communication tools, process and service thinking, design thinking, implementation strategies, pitching, storytelling, prototyping, evangelism, and more. It provides insights into business models, such as the business model canvas, value proposition, customer segmentation, entrepreneurship, and current general trends across industries, not only in innovation but also in new business models.

Healthskouts

Healthskouts is a preferred partner for building creative and concrete concepts via tailorfit surveys, workshop/ideations and external collaborations. Inspiration, unholy alliances and business development going hand in hand.