IDOVEN 2020 | Reviewing our year

In today's post we want to look back and briefly summarize what has happened in this 2020 in IDOVEN.

Without ignoring the situation we are experiencing at a global level due to the COVID-19 and the consequences that the pandemic is bringing to the health system, we would like to highlight the milestones reached throughout the year.

From IDOVEN we continue with a clear objective that we have been promoting throughout this year:

We want our customers to live longer, happier and healthier lives.

We work to detect heart problems early to help prevent diseases such as heart attack and sudden death. Redefining the way heart arrhythmias are diagnosed by combining cloud-based Artificial Intelligence algorithms with wearable technology.

Cardiac monitoring analyzed in numbers:

Little by little we are growing and this is reflected in our numbers:

• Number of people whose hearts we have analyzed in 2020: 2244.
• Number of heartbeats processed this year: 2,120 million heartbeats.
• Number of heartbeats donated to science with the aim of contributing to research and prevention of heart disease in the most vulnerable groups supported by the Foundation Iker Casillas1.5 billion heartbeats.

Equipment and growth:

As for the team, we have also grown by incorporating key profiles to the company that will help us continue to improve.

• In 2020 we started with 9 employees and ended the year with 16. There are currently 8 women and 8 men on the team.
• It is worth noting the incorporation of Iker Casillas as an investor in IDOVEN with the aim of helping to advance the science and technology of artificial intelligence that we developed at IDOVEN to detect early heart problems like the one he suffered on May 1, 2019.

Social impact and donation of the #donatuslatidos campaign with the FIC:

One of the main activities we have carried out together with the Iker Casillas Foundation has been the campaign #DonatuslatidesWe have collaborated with athletes of all types and levels:

• People and organizations that have participated: you can see all the people that have participated in the hashtag #Donatuslatides
• Athletes and sportsmen who have told us about their experience, thus encouraging the use of IDOVEN's cardiac studies to prevent heart problems and improve their sports performance:
• Miriam Costa donate your heartbeats.
• Fernando Carro donate your heartbeats.
• Sheila Aviles donate your heartbeats.
• Joan Cañellas donate your heartbeats

We were able to present our IDOVEN project to the United Nations (UN) in New York because of the positive impact we have on the world. Our work is indeed aligned with the United Nations' sustainable development goals (SDAs) as we are helping to reduce the world's leading cause of death and the biggest cost to the global health system. 

Technology:

Thanks to the help of more than 8000 patients, healthy and sick heart donors, collaborating companies and institutions and our team formed by engineers from Machine Learning and Data Science, nursing and cardiology, WILLEM - the artificial intelligence software we are teaching cardiology- has learned 16 new arrhythmias or heart patterns. Reaching the 74 heart diseases it currently detects automatically.

Awards and special mentions:

Little by little we are managing to obtain a very high standard of quality both at a medical and scientific level and we are positioning ourselves as the digital alternative in professional cardiology that helps both hospital doctors and patients.

There are many the media and journalists we would like to thank for their interest in our work: in 2020 we have appeared in more than 185 media (television, press, radio, digital media). 84% of these news items or interviews have been in top level media. Thanks to this, approximately 273 million people have learned about our cardiology work from a distance (estimated audience). 

Some of the most important recognitions we have been given are

• IDOVEN selected in the Google for Startups Residency program.
• IDOVEN receives the Seal of Excellence from the European Commission.
• IDOVEN chosen by Forbes magazine among the 100 most creative Spaniards in the business world.
• IDOVEN is considered an innovative SME by the Spanish Government.
• IDOVEN wins National Academy of Medicine's Healthy Longevity Catalyst Award
• IDOVEN receives the Entrepreneur XXI Award from CaixaBank and ENISA, which aims to identify, recognize and accompany young companies with the greatest growth potential.
• Financing of the NEOTEC Programme of the Centro de Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial (CDTI), a public business entity under the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, which promotes the development of innovative technology-based companies where innovation and technology are unique and determining factors.
• IDOVEN is one of 16 Spanish startups selected by the Headstart program of EIT Health, a European Commission body that seeks to accelerate the market launch of emerging health companies.
• IDOVEN only Spanish startup finalist of the WFStartCup 2020, the biggest international event in the football industry.
• IDOVEN wins the 19th Everis Spain 2020 award.

Publications and scientific cooperation:

We have published in the prestigious medical journal Europace a study in which the CNIC and 51 Spanish hospitals participated. In this study we demonstrated that, thanks to the cardiac electrical signal of patients carrying pacemakers or implantable automatic defibrillators, it is possible to monitor and predict the progression of an arrhythmia called atrial fibrillation in a personalized and patient-specific manner. This is achieved through current remote transmission technology present in implantable devices, through which the electrical signal of the heart during episodes of atrial fibrillation can be analyzed, thus establishing both the stage of the disease and the rate of its progression. It is important to note that atrial fibrillation is the most common arrhythmia in the population, affecting more than 30 million people worldwide and, in Spain, it is estimated that there are more than 600,000 patients suffering from this heart disease. One of the objectives of IDOVEN is to continue generating scientific and scientific papers to continue to help advance medical knowledge.

We have signed 3 collaboration agreements with universities to support the training of young students seeking to train in specialities such as artificial intelligence and digital medicine. We would like to highlight the educational cooperation agreements signed with Stanford University and the Polytechnic University of Madrid,to incorporate profiles that can add value to the project and be trained during their stay with us, thus completing their academic studies. As well as a scientific collaboration agreement signed with the Complutense University of Madrid.

At the end of this year we managed to create, together with 17 partners, the prestigious consortium MASTERSHIP (Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence for Early Detection of Stroke and Atrial Fibrillation). This is a research and innovation action with which we have obtained 14 million euros of European H2020 funding for the 18 partners that make up the consortium and which will undoubtedly mark the future of digital diagnosis of atrial fibrillation. The project is coordinated by the Sorbonne University (Principal Investigator: Stéphane Hatem), and involves 17 other European partners, including IDOVEN. These include the University of Oxford (UK), the University of Birmingham (UK), Kompetenznetz Vorhofflimmern e.v. (DE), University Hospital Essen (DE), University of Maastricht (NL), National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (GR), Carlos III National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (ES), Centre de recherche du CHUS (CANADA), Siemens Healthcare GmbH (DE) Caristo diagnostics (UK), Owkin (FR), Preventicus GmbH (DE) and Yourrhythmics (NL). 

On behalf of the entire IDOVEN team I would like to thank all of you who have helped us and trusted us, without you all of this would not have been possible. We will continue to work with great hope for what 2021 has in store for us. Helping those who need it and giving our best every day to try to prevent and diagnose early heart problems.

Thank you for being part of this adventure.

Dr Manuel Marina Breysse

CEO and co-founder of IDOVEN