The Innovation Catalyst, an initiative powered by DayOne, is dedicated to accelerating healthcare transformation across Switzerland by fostering collaboration and open innovation. Through its Open Innovation Challenges, the program unites experts, patients, and entrepreneurs to co-create impactful solutions for critical healthcare needs. Its mission is to empower ideas that deliver tangible value to patients, clinicians, and the broader healthcare system by providing mentorship and a supportive ecosystem to guide innovators from bold concepts to ready-to-implement solutions.
Program Methodology
• From Problem to Idea: The program utilizes carefully designed events, including a Challenge-driven onsite Open Innovation Day, to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange. This approach creates a shared understanding of problems and generates innovative solutions based on open innovation principles. A structured process emphasizes building strong partnerships early to ensure solutions are co-created with input from all key stakeholders.
• From Idea to MVP: This phase focuses on validating the feasibility, desirability, and viability of proposed solutions to ensure they are practical and meet user needs. Selected teams receive tailored support to create and validate minimum viable products (MVPs), leveraging partnerships and real-world insights to prepare solutions for integration into the Swiss healthcare ecosystem.
Open Innovation Challenge: openEHR for Clinical Innovation (2026)
The 2026 challenge focuses on co-developing interoperable, openEHR-based digital health solutions to streamline clinical workflows, enhance data quality, and improve patient outcomes. The program invites startups, research teams, and established companies to collaborate on solutions addressing real-world clinical needs using the openEHR® technology platform. This challenge is brought by Personalized Health Basel and University Hospital Basel. Following a public phase, five proposals will be selected for targeted support during the Idea Stage, with solutions expected to address the hospital’s specific use cases and demonstrate strong potential for implementation.
2026 Challenge Use Cases
• Hospital at Home: Extending hospital-grade monitoring and care coordination to patients recovering at home, including cross-hospital visibility.
• SOP & Clinical Decision Support: Operationalizing clinical guidelines into active, real-time decision support embedded in clinical workflows, built on openEHR.
• Molecular Tumor Board: Integrating advanced molecular diagnostic data into the clinical record to support treatment decisions for complex cancer cases, with a focus on data traceability and clinician trust.
Application Process and Timeline
• Step 1 - Sign Up: Complete the registration form to join the Challenge community, stay informed, and get access to supporting materials and event invitations.
• Step 2 - Explore: Participate in events and webinars to explore the Challenge, delve into use-cases, refine proposals, and connect with collaborators.
• Step 3 - Submit Proposal: Attend the Open Innovation Day in Basel on June 1, 2026, and submit the final proposal by June 19, 2026.
• Step 4 - Validate: The Top 5 selected teams will be invited to a structured validation stage at University Hospital Basel to work with clinical champions and test the solution's feasibility, desirability, and viability.
Key Dates
• Exploration Phase (April-June 2026): An open call for sign-ups and supporting activities.
• Open Innovation Day (June 1, 2026): A full-day event held in Basel.
• Application Deadline (June 19, 2026): Final day for proposal submissions.
• Selection Day (June 24, 2026): A virtual event where up to 10 pre-selected projects will pitch to the selection committee.
• Validation Phase (July-October 2026): A hybrid-format program for the Top 5 teams, providing access to clinical expertise, a research data environment at University Hospital Basel, and mentorship.
• Demo Day (October 2026): The Top 5 teams will pitch their solutions, with a CHF 10,000 award for the winning project. The specific date is to be determined.
Program History and Past Challenges
The Innovation Catalyst builds on the legacy of the Digital Health Nation Innovation Booster (2022–2025), applying the same open innovation and co-creation principles. Past challenges include:
• May – October, 2025: "AI for code quality and completeness validation under TARDOC and outpatient flat rates," focused on ensuring the accuracy of clinical coding for the transition to TARDOC 2026.
• February – June, 2025: "Streamlining clinical workflows and elevating standards of care with openEHR-powered, rapidly deployable digital health solutions," aimed at simplifying and standardizing clinical data capture at University Hospital Basel.
Innovators and organizations interested in contributing to the evolution of healthcare are encouraged to express their interest and stay informed about upcoming challenges. Participation offers a unique opportunity to collaborate with leading institutions and shape the future of healthcare in Switzerland and beyond.