On 12 and 13 November 2024 in Warsaw, Poland, the WorkInHealth Foundation had the pleasure of taking part in the annual Deep Tech Skills Days 2024, organized by the EIT Deep Tech Talent initiative. This exciting event brought together deep tech enthusiasts, experts and innovators from all over Europe.
As a sponsor of the event alongside Amazon Web Services and EIT Health, we were delighted to take part in this event whose aim was to encourage and accelerate the next generation of deep tech talent!
Find out more about the other sponsors and photos from the event here.
A look back at Deep Tech Skills Days 2024
Over the course of two days, more than 250 deep tech players, including member organizations of the Deep Tech Talent Initiative (Pledgers), external stakeholders from ministries, universities, research institutes and private sector representatives from all over Europe came together at several conferences to discuss deep tech.
Centred on innovation, emerging technologies and the training of talent in deep tech fields, the conference focused on training in areas such as AI, data management and cloud computing skills, which are increasingly crucial in today’s healthcare landscape.
By offering these training opportunities, the EIT Deep Tech Talent initiative aims to empower healthcare professionals with the tools they need to improve patient outcomes, reduce diagnostic errors, and enhance treatment processes.
“Deep tech is a way of solving current problems that exist in Europe and the world. Deep tech can help us achieve a better future for future generations […]” according to Pamela Krzypkowska, Director of Department of Research and Innovation, Ministry of Digital Affairs in Poland.
You can find out more about the programme and the speakers present on the day of the event here.
Talent Skills gap: Solutions to overcome it!
Faced with the talent skills gap in healthcare, training opportunities to update the skills of professionals and equip them with the tools they need are becoming a necessity.
To achieve this, a number of initiatives exist:
- EIT Health education programmes, designed specifically to bridge this skills gap. In the evolving context of digital transformation, the aim of these programmes is to train healthcare professionals in the key skills needed to meet today’s challenges. Like the Certified Innovation Path programme, which aims to deepen knowledge in the field of healthcare by focusing on new trends in the sector, for which applications are open until 29 January 2025.
- The EIT Deep Tech Talent Initiative Call for Training Proposals, for organisations wishing to collaborate in the creation of new programmes aimed at training one million people in deep tech in Europe. The initiative is funding a number of projects committed to pioneering the future of deep tech education and skills development across Europe by distributing a total amount of up to €2 million.
The 2024 winners were unveiled at the Deep Tech Skills Days: 15 project consortia, comprising 42 organisations from 21 countries, were selected and received a total funding of €2,203,391.50 to create and deliver their training and skills development programmes! Their objective: to train at least 7,500 additional learners! You can find out more about the winners here.
A partnership with AWS based on shared values
In keeping with this aim of strengthening and developing deep tech skills in the healthcare sector in Europe, the WorkInHealth Foundation and Amazon Web Services (AWS) joined forces in 2024.
According to Urška Bux, Program Manager of WorkInHealth Foundation, “The combined efforts of the WorkinHealth Foundation’s expertise and network, together with AWS’s upskilling programs and technological capabilities, create an environment where the healthcare sector can thrive with a future-ready, skilled workforce.”
Our entities were committed to working actively to bridge the skills gap in healthcare by upskilling and reskilling healthcare professionals, particularly in advanced technological areas. Several solutions have been put in place, and we have been lucky enough to work together on several projects such as:
- Agnès Guerraz Prize: Which rewarded a women healthcare entrepreneur from the EIT Health Women Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, in cloud credits, to help them bring their ideas into reality with their services.
- Unleash Your Impact challenge: Which aims to strengthen start-ups, project teams and innovators in the healthcare sector who are developing solutions to urgent healthcare needs. Five different teams were rewarded with AWS cloud credits. Visit our LinkedIn page to find out more about the winner.
- Girls Go Circular: Which is a program for young women aged 14 to 19 from all over the world who are interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, with the aim of developing their digital and entrepreneurial skills. Sponsoring the linked event, we had the chance to reveal the Girls Go Circular Student Challenge winnHER, and to announce the Audience Choice Award with AWS cloud credits: the Serbian team Equalife, composed of Teodora Radičev, Staša Aleksić and Majda Mandić, who created an AI tool who aims to prevent the misdiagnosis of women by using AI to analyse a comprehensive range of symptoms, accounting for gender differences.
In addition, AWS propose the AWS educate platform, which lets you develop your cloud skills at your own pace, for free!
To know more about our partnership and the solutions that we have created with AWS, you can read our article here.