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Blockchain Healthcare Technology

What Switzerland can teach the world about blockchain health

Switzerland is one of the leading centers of healthcare R&D in the world. Developments in life sciences on a whole are contributing to a blockchain health niche. When you hear Switzerland, you often associate it with efficiency, precision, and cutting-edge technology. And there’s a very good reason for that. As a global hub of biotech innovation, Switzerland is at the forefront of the blockchain health sector.

Many link Switzerland with finance. But the medical industry is far larger. There is considerable crossover between the two industries. Medtech companies and biotech entrepreneurs took notice of the success of blockchain finance and are looking to blockchain for innovative solutions. For big pharma blockchain lends valuable advantages — ones that Swiss companies are investing in heavily. In this report, I’d like to dig deep into the Swiss life sciences sector and examine how blockchain fits in the larger industry.

Biopharma & blockchain health

Several factors influence Switzerland’s dynamic market development. First, attractive conditions encourage innovation and for international firms to base their operations there. Big players such as Roche and Novartis have headquarters in Basel. In addition, extensive networks of partners, universities, and R&D firms attract a deep talent pool.

According to a report from Swiss Biotech, the number of biotech companies in the medical sector increased by about 65% from 2006-2017. Favorable business conditions, as well as attractive industry development conditions, bolster the Swiss biotech ecosystem. In the years 2015-2017 there was a slight increase in employment in the industry. By 2017 there were about 7,500 employees in private companies and about 6,300 in public companies.

Interestingly, about 80% of companies are small and medium-sized enterprises, which in the case of willingness to establish cooperation usually facilitates the possibility of establishing contact and starting business talks. However, in the years 2006-2017, a stable downward trend occurred in the area of biotechnology industry suppliers. The fact that the number of such entities remains at a similar level is related to the existence of both M&A processes and the increasing involvement of European suppliers on the Swiss market.

The Swiss biotechnology industry is diverse and includes suppliers, service companies, and companies specializing in both product development and manufacturing. The presence of such a broad spectrum of entities in a rather small geographical area is one of the key strengths of Swiss biotechnology.

pharma blockchain

Innosuisse support

Innovative projects in the field of biotechnology are one of the key areas co-financed by Innosuisse, the Swiss Innovation Promotion Agency. This institution focuses on supporting projects with high innovation potential. Its aim is to encourage the SME sector to undertake such projects by offering them financial support in creating international partnerships.

blockchain in heath
Investment capital of biotech companies (CHF)

Innosuisse has a budget of 200 million francs for this purpose. Between 2013 and 2017, 35-47 projects were supported annually, with total funding ranging from 14.4 million to 18.1 million francs per year.

health blockchain
Financial data of biotech companies (CHF)

Financial results of biotechnology companies in Switzerland. According to the analysis of data, the growth of the Swiss biotechnology market observed in recent years took place despite sometimes difficult access to financing such as venture capital or irregular IPOs. This phenomenon was particularly visible in the years 2009-2012.

blockchain in health
Financial data of private biotech companies

Both the public and private sectors in Switzerland have robust revenue and both contribute to the overall dynamism of the Swiss market.

pharma blockchain
Financial data of public biotech companies

MedTech

Such a high level of development of the MedTech market in Switzerland results primarily from access to exceptional research equipment and a highly developed health care system, which stimulates innovation and creates demand for advanced medical technologies.

There are 1,400 companies on the market, consisting of suppliers, service providers, manufacturers, and traders. In addition to global corporations, the Swiss MedTech industry is also made up of many SMEs. 93% of companies employ fewer than 250 people and four out of five companies employ fewer than 50 people. Microenterprises with fewer than ten employees are the largest group.

pharma blockchain
Structure of medtech companies in Switzerland

Such a company structure provides an opportunity for the development of specialized entities or M&A transactions.

The top five Medtech companies in Switzerland:

  • J&J Medical
  • Roche Diagnostics
  • Biotronik
  • Sonova
  • Medtronic

In 2017, Swiss medical device manufacturers invested between 6% and 18% of their turnover – and their suppliers between 5% and 9% in R&D. Nearly 75% of the VC investment in Switzerland in 2017 went to companies in the life science sector. The investment capital of MedTech startups in this period amounted to 87 million CHF.

Below are some numbers describing the MedTech market in Switzerland:

  • 1,400 enterprises
  • 58,500 employees
  • 15.8 bln CHF income
  • 2.3% GDP

Blockchain health

Patent application analysis and research program reports in Switzerland indicate that companies are increasingly active in digitization and data processing technologies, such as blockchain. Blockchain technology is a distributed, decentralized database that enables companies to store information and access it in real time. This technology, if used properly, can improve medtech processes.

Recently, medtech companies have taken an interest in blockchain health data management. One company doing this is the HIT foundation. The company has launched an application that facilitates clinical trials with blockchain. This solution would allow for the creation of a database containing information on each new drugs and the medical records of individual patients taking part in the studies. Pharma blockchain supply chain tracking is also a fascinating trend.

  • The use of blockchain technology to store medical records of patients and other sensitive data on treatment and disease progression, which will enable the acceleration of data exchange between doctors, clinics and other medical facilities;
  • Pharma blockchain supply chain tracking.

Conclusion

Switzerland’s life sciences sector remains among the most dynamic systems in the world. A deep commitment to R&D and investments in that sector boost the industry as a whole. Switzerland definitely can become the brain of Europe, no other European country currently has a better framework for researchers, founders, start-ups, and VCs than Switzerland.

Based on the Swiss Venture Capital Report (2017) in 2016 only 46.8 million Swiss francs was invested in fintech and over than 70% of whole investments, so 570.8 million francs was invested in the life science sector. This number is growing exotentially.

Precision, science-savviness and a drive for excellence in life science research all contribute to the booming of this industry culture here in Switzerland. Investor interest in life science is growing as multinational companies as well as the experts they attract flock here. Myriad interesting projects are emerging from this favorable ecosystem.

Life science, as I have mentioned, is often overshadowed by the much bigger financial sector. However, there are some projects that are implementing Blockchain in this extremely specialized industry and resolving complex problems that impact wider society.

Personally, I believe that Switzerland and especially Basel is the place in the world to invent groundbreaking inventions in blockchain health that will change healthcare for the better.

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Blockchain Software

Swiss medtech startup HIT Foundation puts users in control of health data

Switzerland is a hotbed of medical technology. As Europe’s leading Medtech hub, the Alpine nation hits well above its weight in the sector. Favorable business conditions and a deep talent pool set Switzerland apart as an economic hotspot in the region. Blockchain is sparking intense interest in Medtech. Many blockchain healthcare startups are developing new uses for the technology.

New blockchain use cases in healthcare are emerging in Crypto Valley. One startup working on this is the HIT foundation based in Zug, Switzerland. The company aims to connect clinical researchers with individuals willing to share their medical data. I spoke to CTO Vega Paithankar about the project.


blockchain healthcare startups

Crypto Valley

A 2018 report from Switzerland Global Enterprise cited a serious commitment to R&D as well as proximity to financial centers and VCs as major factors contributing to Switzerland’s outsized influence. From this favorable Swiss ecosystem, blockchain healthcare startups have a place to try new things and develop into global businesses. From pharmaceutical supply chain management to better patient privacy, blockchain healthcare startups are poised to drive innovation in an industry in need of change.

Espeo’s Blockchain Business Development Manager Paweł Sobotkowski agrees and cited precision in medical research as one factor behind the booming Medtech industry in Switzerland.

“Investor interest in medical technology is growing as multinational companies — and the experts they attract flock here,” said Sobotkowski. “Medicine is often overshadowed by the much bigger finance and fintech sector. However, many projects such as HIT Foundation are implementing blockchain in healthcare and resolving complex problems that impact wider society.”


Medtech in Switzerland

As a center of the pharmaceutical industry, research is a top priority for the major players. However, clinical trials increasingly lack a diverse sample group due to a lack of trust over data handling. Medical data researchers collect meanwhile, is difficult to access and not uniform. Siloed data holds medical research back and makes it more expensive to conduct clinical trials. A blockchain platform that rewards users for sharing anonymized medical data promises to change that.


As medical data becomes increasingly digital, the risk of leaked or mishandled sensitive medical data only increases. Swiss blockchain healthcare startup, HIT Foundation has launched an app that connects researchers seeking medical data with people willing to share. In addition to making clinical studies easier to organize, users will realize the value of their medical data and empower them to take back control of it.


Those seeking data can send out a request for medical information and users can control who uses it. HIT foundation uses the NEM blockchain platform to create a space to tokenize and share medical data. The HIT platform also creates a token ecosystem that rewards people who share their data.

I spoke to HIT Foundation CTO Vega Paithankar to get a glimpse inside the startup’s blockchain use cases in healthcare:

What inspired you to get into crypto and the blockchain industry?

I first learned about bitcoin in 2011 while working as a software engineer in California, and I got quite interested in the technology and how it bypasses the problems of digital payment systems — especially when it comes to censorship and cross-border payments.


The idea of decentralized money that’s independent of governments and the banking industry is empowering and has the potential to solve many problems in the world.


Unfortunately, I wasn’t interested enough to actually go and buy any bitcoin at the time. But I still stayed interested in this topic and the more I researched it, the more I realized that was definitely the type of project that I want to be involved in.


What does HIT use blockchain to do?

HIT Foundation is a decentralized marketplace for health information. We use the blockchain as a platform for researchers to say, ‘we’re looking for patients who fit a certain profile.’ We let the user decide whether they agree with the purpose of the request and whether they trust the organization that’s asking for it.

For example, if it’s a university hospital you might be more inclined to contribute your data than if it’s a health insurance or a marketing company. Blockchain is the broadcast medium to send out these requests.

Health information is extremely valuable and privacy-sensitive. As an individual, your health data ought to belong to you, and you should have the right to decide who you share it with, for what purpose, and on what terms. The entire healthcare industry benefits from your data except you, and HIT Foundation aims to change that.

By using the blockchain as a global decentralized platform for posting queries for data, we allow health researchers to reach individuals that fit their desired profile and then reward those individuals who agree to provide their health data.

Which markets are you most active?

Our users come from all parts of the world. We’re working on forming partnerships with healthcare organizations in Switzerland, Vietnam, the US, and are also in talks with NGOs in Western Africa and Central America to use our platform to deliver better healthcare in communities in difficult geographies.

We don’t think health data should be confined to one country if it can benefit you and the state of research. There’s no reason why we should restrict it.

Are there challenges with jurisdiction?

Jurisdiction is an issue for us. Different countries have different regulations surrounding health data protection. However, because we don’t touch the data directly, we don’t even take the risk of mishandling our users’ health data. We don’t take control of it in the first place.

We just connect the seeker and the individual and then at that point, it is the seeker’s responsibility to conform to any regulations on data privacy.

HIT Foundation promises to incentivize patients to share their medical data. How will that work in practice?

We believe that individuals will be motivated to share their data if they are able to exercise their right to consent or not. They’re given complete information about who is requesting the data and for what purpose.

Then it tells you what the incentives are in terms of HIT tokens if you provide answers to all the questions. We don’t actually take control of the data, we don’t put the data anywhere online but instead, we store a cryptographic signature as proof on the blockchain.

If there’s a dispute where the researcher claims that they didn’t get all the answers or the answers were bogus, then both sides can use the cryptographic proof to prove what was sent and what was received. Obviously, if the tokens were sent or not all that proof is on the blockchain.

In the whitepaper, there’s a quote: “tokenizing health data is a revolutionary way to motivate individuals to digitize and share their data.” Could you clarify this?

We’ve found that different people have different reasons and levels of motivation to participate in a system like ours. A lot of people are genuinely excited about blockchain use cases in healthcare.

Many have experienced first hand the power of modern medicine and the need for continuing research to find treatments for terrible diseases. At the same time, people worry about the loss of privacy and of control over their health data, as well as by not seeing the benefits of their contributions.

We are hoping to address these various motivations by paying attention to the control, traceability and even monetary value of health information through tokenization.

What pushback do these types of blockchain use cases in healthcare face? Some may argue that it’s encouraging people to give up valuable data for a small fee.

We have talked to people who have expressed concerns — that we’re asking people to give away their medical data for a few dollars.

And if it were that simple, clearly that’s not something we’d want to do. We see this as more of a token — literally. It’s not supposed to represent the full value of your medical data — at least if you participate in just one study.

One researcher may not pay you what you think your whole medical history is worth. But over time, by tokenizing data, that individual can recognize in real time that researchers value their time, value their privacy, value their right to control and consent to sharing their data.

We expect the monetary part to be one small part of the motivation for individuals. I think the control and the power to decide and actually being able to see and verify where their information is going and for what purpose. That is more likely to motivate people in general.

How will users acquire the HIT tokens? Will they be on exchanges?

Like any other crypto token, it is tradeable peer-to-peer. We expect that at least a few exchanges across the world will list the HIT token. We’ll see whether it will be exchangeable for the official currency or for another cryptocurrency like bitcoin.

However, we don’t expect our users to go in directly and create an account on an exchange. Instead, we hope to build up an ecosystem around this where other players in the health and well-being sector like gyms and health food stores and massage therapists will accept these tokens as full or partial payments for goods and services.

Then those who aggregate these coins will need to have accounts. But that’s actually worth their time because they’d be exchanging potentially thousands of dollars worth of tokens. Or they can turn around and sell them back to other researchers.

Could you elaborate on the platform’s token economy and explain how the two tokens help keep it stable?

So just the mechanics of the token — it’s based on top of the NEM blockchain. It is just a pure utility token, there are no smart contracts or executable code around it. But as I mentioned, we will include things like cryptographic commitments of data to resolve conflicts to an arbiter.

There is a fixed supply of tokens. We reserve 20 or 30% for the development of the protocol and of the system and to incentivize partners to join the platform. But we distribute the bulk of the tokens to users who sign on to our platform.

So if you download the app, you will get a small onboarding bonus. This currently doesn’t have any monetary value. We do expect that as the ecosystem matures, given the finite token supply that it will naturally find a value.

Researchers have to acquire these tokens on the open market based on supply and demand if they want to use our system — which could be hundreds of thousands of users. We hope that it will naturally find a value.

Why did you decide on the NEM platform? What advantages does it offer over other blockchain platforms?

Early on when we started building out our platform, Ethereum was the biggest platform for tokens. The problem was that it had a lot of scalability problems where the transaction fees were very high. Bitcoin was even worse in terms of backlogs and fees.

The whole system was creaky. There was no guarantee that your transaction would go through in a short amount of time. NEM had very aggressive scaling plans. They have very low transaction fees.

It’s more like a proof-of-stake model that could, in theory, lead to centralization. But it’s still an open-source public blockchain. Given their scaling plans, we felt comfortable that we wouldn’t run into the same issues.

Conclusion

Blockchain use cases in healthcare continue to emerge as entrepreneurs come up with ways to use the technology.

HIT foundation not only creates a platform that connects data seekers and data providers, but it also introduces an incentive for people to participate in clinical trials and contribute to medical research.

This blockchain use case will not only make clinical trials easier and cheaper but it will also benefit platform users directly. Switzerland continues to be a hub for blockchain healthcare startups.

The Swiss Medtech sector is among the most advanced in the world and will continue to be a center of new blockchain use cases in healthcare.

Vega will be a panel speaker at an upcoming blockchain meetup on digital health organized by the Swiss-Polish Blockchain Association (of which Espeo is part) on April 11th in Zug. Be sure to join!

Special thanks to Blockchain Business Development Manager for Switzerland and the UK, Paweł Sobotkowski for setting up the interview and for editorial support.

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Entrepreneurship Software

8 reasons to choose Time and Material for Your Software Project

We do things a bit differently here at Espeo. Delivering the highest value to our clients and their end-users is our biggest priority. Based on our experience creating web and mobile apps, we use a time and material model instead of charging a flat rate like many other software houses. Even if it seems counterintuitive, the time and material model is far more effective than flat fees. It will save you money and deliver better quality software.  

Time and material working model is becoming more and more popular and it’s not happening without a reason. This working method and payment model allows you to achieve satisfying results faster, easier, and cheaper than other methods. But let’s start from the beginning!

Time and material agreement is great for when the quantity and scope of work is difficult to determine or when you expect design requirements to change in the middle.

In a time and material agreement, the client agrees to pay the contractor and their subcontractors based on the man-hours they devote multiplied by a fixed rate. This is in contrast to an up-front flat fee.

At first glance, you may think that a fixed price would be safer for a business owner, but nothing is as straightforward in outsourcing software development. Beware companies that spit out a figure quickly. Here’s why:

8 reasons to choose Time and Material for Your Software Project
8 reasons to choose Time and Material for Your Software Project
8 reasons to choose Time and Material for Your Software Project
8 reasons to choose Time and Material for Your Software Project
8 reasons to choose Time and Material for Your Software Project
8 reasons to choose Time and Material for Your Software Project
8 reasons to choose Time and Material for Your Software Project
8 reasons to choose Time and Material for Your Software Project
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Blockchain Other

Blockchain scalability solutions to drive user adoption

Blockchain technology is a marvelous thing, it has brought major advancements, created economic value, and may even change the way we do business. However, any seasoned technologist knows that it’s more complicated than that. As entrepreneurs come up with new ideas, developers are hard at work finding blockchain scalability solutions. 

In this article, I’ll talk more specifically about blockchain scalability solutions that improve user experience and drive user adoption. I’ll brush off the common misconceptions and mistakes that people who want to start a blockchain project make and offer alternatives. 

Blockchain scalability solutions: on-chain vs off-chain

Many blockchain entrepreneurs want to put as much data on the chain as possible. They argue that it makes their project more decentralized. But this is not the best idea on several levels. There are several things to avoid when you’re starting a dApp development project.
First, blockchains facilitate the storage and transmission of value. They’re optimized for that. However, by pushing non-financial application data on the blockchain, you clutter the network and have to pay unnecessary transaction fees as a result. This reduces blockchain scalability by making it more expensive to run a dApp and slowing it down. 
Blockchain scalability is a lingering concern for developers and entrepreneurs alike. However, blockchain scalability solutions exist with existing technology. State channels and side-chains, for example, allow users to store non-financial application specific data either on a secondary blockchain or in a database. Our developers recently implemented state channels in decentralized derivatives trading platform, CloseCross
These solutions allow free microtransactions to occur parallel to the main blockchain. Only when you need to verify a result or record changes will the transaction write to the main network.
This phenomenon — also known as clearing — isn’t specific to the crypto industry and is commonly used in finance. Very often banking transfers and exchange order books are batched and executed at the end of a certain period of time, all in one transaction.
The same mechanism works in blockchain projects, allowing linear scaling in terms of fees and speed. This improves blockchain scalability by saving money, electricity, and time.

Blockchain scalability solutions in practice

Let’s say we’re creating a decentralized poker application. Maximalists might argue that each interaction should write to the blockchain.
They may design a project that would try to put everything on-chain — from card generation logic to a big smart contract containing all the game’s logic. Each players’ move would require gas transaction fees that fluctuate depending on network traffic. Few users would currently tolerate a fully decentralized poker game.
However, a more pragmatic blockchain project could use side-chains or state channels to record the stats of every game and only commit final results. These blockchain scalability solutions not only keep the game engaging but also keep fees low. 

blockchain scalability

Focus on product development

In addition to trying to put everything on-chain, some blockchain projects lack product development. Let’s take a real blockchain startup Crowdwiz as an example.  The company aims to “shift power away from intermediaries and centralized control and place it back in the hands of investors, who will benefit from financial services in a new, transparent way, with no middlemen and no hefty fees.”
Although the description of this project looks very salesy, the project succeeded in raising more than $7,000,000 in November 2017. More than a year and a half later, the project has little to show.
Recently, CrowdWiz released a Beta version of one of their products. Needless to say, the engagement is quite low (fewer than two users on the platform). Moreover, the price of the token decreased by 99% compared to the ICO price. Despite the fact that the project looked very promising, the product release took a lot of time and lost momentum.
Tech entrepreneurs must be aware of the fact that timing is everything. You want to catch the right momentum. I recommend the Blitzscaling approach popularized in Richard Hoffman and Chris Yeh’s book on startup growth. They lay out a path that can help develop your product in rapid iterations according to the needs of your users in record time.
Don’t take one year to release a perfect product. If your Beta looks very clean, it’s probably because you launched it too late. Investing a lot in product development and tech is the first step of any successful project.

Put users first

When we deal with new technology, user adoption, and user experience is key. Apple’s iPod is an excellent example of why a well thought design is crucial to the success of a product. MP3s and audio players were available at the time when the first iPod came out.
There was nothing really new in terms of technology. What really won the crowd is the convenient way to go through thousands of songs that the iPod had to offer. Same goes for the first Macs.
People are generally not tech savvy. However, almost all blockchain projects require users to generate and the store a private/public key pair, as well as understand blockchain specific concepts such as gas, ram, cpu….etc.
One of the main challenges of today’s blockchain industry is to make the interaction with the blockchain as fluid and as transparent as possible. As a reminder, in order to be able to use the first computers, users needed a good grasp of programming.
Nowadays, you can use a computer without any remote knowledge of programming or computer architecture. As such, user interaction should be the main focus to boost blockchain user adoption.

Forge partnerships

After the right timing, the second pillar of success is the right partnerships. The lightning success of ICOs has led to a proliferation of ICO websites and software templates promising an all-in-one solution for your project.
We think that every job needs the right tools, the more optimized your tools, the better the odds of success.
Don’t fall into the cheap trap of saving money where you really shouldn’t. Strong and secure foundations are important for any crypto project because they have a financial dimension.
We at Espeo, have a long experience building custom tools that offer blockchain scalability solutions for various projects. From side-chains to state channels, we can advise and get your project off the ground.
blockahin scalability

Conclusion

Poor user experience caused by low blockchain scalability hinders widespread user adoption. In order to make a good blockchain project, it is important to grasp the importance of existing blockchain scalability solutions such as side-chains and state channels.
Develop a realistic project that users want to use and interact with. It’s 2019! the only way to attract people to your platform is to make sure that they have as smooth as frictionless an experience as possible.