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Sovi Solutions co-founders Alessio Weber (r.) and Gianluca Marinelli (Photo: Sovi Solutions) 

Giving a voice to intubated patients

Based on a successful app helping people with speech impediments communicate, Luxembourg startup Sovi Solutions is working on technology to enable intubated patients connect with healthcare staff.

Founded in 2019, Sovi has developed speech generating device Talkii. “It’s symbol-based communication,” says Alessio Weber, one of the co-founders. Users select pictograms for the device to read out loud. It’s not just objects that the app can process but users can also build sentences. Targeted customers include parents of children with autism or Down’s syndrome, but also adults who suffer from speech impairment after a stroke or muscular disorders. The roughly 1,000 pictograms in the system can be customised and more are continuously being added.

With a cash injection from the government, the entrepreneurs are now looking to specialise the app to meet the demands of the hospital context. “Intubated patients have difficulty expressing themselves verbally and making themselves understood,” says Weber. The team is working with hospitals and healthcare professionals to develop the right pictograms and interface, for example, with specialised symbols. The new solution could also work as a translator to help patients who don’t speak one of the country’s languages to communicate with healthcare providers, Weber says.

The development will cost €170,000, with Sovi expecting €150,000 from the government and injecting the other €20,000 from its own capital. Sovi plans to launch its new app in the second quarter of next year but sees its application last much longer than the pandemic for patients intubated for reasons other than covid-19.

Taking corporate governance online

As remote working continues gaining traction in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, startup Stampify is developing solutions to move company governance into the digital realm, too. Functionalities include managing board meetings but also automating the calculation of the quorum, majority and strength of votes whenever board members need to vote on an agenda item. Other options include the digital signing of documents and electronic shareholder registers.

Stampify ensures “resilience and responsiveness of corporate governance, even in times of strict physical distancing,” says Guillaume de Vergnies, Stampify’s chief executive officer. The start-up received €116,000 under the government’s StartupsVsCovid19 grant programme in recognition of its potential. “The pandemic is accelerating a global shift towards digital,” says de Vergnies, with regulatory technology (or regtech) playing an important role. “It will allow Luxembourg’s financial centre to manage ever more efficiently an ever-increasing amount of regulation,” the CEO said about Stampify’s future, even past the pandemic.

With the government’s financial boost, Stampify was able to fully launch in November 2020 and for 2021 plans to expand the breadth of its services to include more aspects of corporate administration, “always offering solid audit trails, backed with blockchain,” says de Vergnies. It is also planning on expanding its geography, adding to the 147 nationalities the platform can already onboard.

A smart door handle

A self-disinfecting door handle by Mu Design (Photo: Mu Design) 

Startup Mu Design is looking to roll out a self-sanitising door handle in 2021 that works with UVC light to kill germs.

“We have a prototype,” says company CEO Vivien Muller, with the funds injected through the StartupsVsCovid19 programme helping to develop the prototype further, order materials and carry out tests with an independent laboratory. “By the end of [the] year, we will be able to mass-produce the product,” he estimates.

Potential customers--such as offices or hotels--are already lined up in Belgium and Luxembourg. The handle also includes a screen, for example to display room bookings or other information.

The move towards corporate clients is a shift for Mu Design, which has so far developed consumer electronics, such as a home camera system. But the startup was able to repurpose technology it uses in some of its other products. This includes sensors to make sure the UVC light only turns on when people are at a safe distance, as the rays can be harmful to human eyes and skin, Muller explains.

The project provided a lifeline for Mu Design. During lockdown, “our suppliers were closed. Our assembly line couldn’t work,” says Muller. “All the plans we had just shattered. We had to rethink our whole strategy.”

This article originally appeared in the 2021 Forecast edition of Delano released on 16 December.