Angelini Pharma launches a competition to innovate heat therapy against musculoskeletal pain

On 17 March, Angelini Pharma launched the 'ThermaCare-Innova' open call for innovation, a contest aimed at start-ups, innovative small and medium-sized enterprises, research centres and universities, to encourage research into innovative solutions enabled by new emerging technologies for medical devices that help alleviate musculoskeletal pain. A prize pool of €10,000 is up for grabs.

How the contest works and its prizes

Contestants have to tackle three main challenges: product innovation, customer experience and innovative design and materials.
The creators of the best projects will participate in a Hackathon where they will have the opportunity to get to know the other contestants and receive mentoring and guidance from industry experts who can help them further develop their idea. The Hackathon will start within 90 days of the conclusion of the Open Call, scheduled for the end of May.

The projects will be assessed by a jury of experts, who will award a cash prize worth €5,000, €3,000 and €2,000, respectively.
Finally, if the winners have indeed found an integrable solution, they can be involved in the development process of their innovation project.

The requirements to participate in the open innovation call

Participation in the initiative is free of charge for all participants and is open to innovative start-ups and SMEs, research centres, and universities, as well as individuals or companies, as long as they are not direct or indirect subsidiaries of pharmaceutical companies. Key requirements for admission to the call are that participants possess technical entrepreneurial skills and do not have any conflict of interest with Angelini Pharma.