WATT The Health: the new sport- and healthtech hub in Ghent

The new home for tech entrepreneurs in the healthcare and sports sector is an idea of the Ghent developer Revive and will be delivered in the spring of 2025. Initially, it will start with four startups: Clouds of Care, Televitas, FAQIR and LiveLunger. However, there's still enough room for additional tech companies.

An agreement has also been made with the Health Arena of In4Care to establish the first Health Arena in Flanders in Gentbrugge. In this way, entrepreneurs can further develop their innovation on-site, together with the AZ Maria Middelares Hospital and the citizens of Gentbrugge.

A sneak peek into this new hub

"In this new building, 440 desks will be provided," says Julie Daelman, responsible for WATT The Health from Revive. "The total office space will be divided over four floors, including 1500m² of shared facilities such as meeting rooms, boardrooms, a lunch area, event hall, and terraces. Each floor offers 1000m² of flexible office spaces, ranging from 25m² to an entire floor. We already see a nice mix of smaller companies and growing businesses. About 30 companies will be able to establish themselves here by May 2025."

It takes a village

A location where tech entrepreneurs with shared expertise can come together seems quite popular. “Healthtech-related companies have a very different start than other companies,” says Julie. “They're highly dependent on capital injections; they have a long lead time to go from research towards the market, and the regulations they must adhere to weigh heavily on them. By bringing these companies together and sharing expertise, they can better bridge the well-known 'valley of death' and find partners to grow together.”

"With our initial idea, we quickly entered the market, which gave us a bit of an edge. We mainly wanted to validate our strategy and construction plans, see which companies might be interested, and how we should adjust our plans to accommodate them effectively. We received valuable feedback from future residents by starting this two years in advance. For example, those conversations taught us that we needed to focus more on healthy outdoor spaces, such as meeting rooms on the terraces. We also refined our services in line with ISO 27001 certification standards."

Why Ghent?

Ghent's techies can collaborate like no other, which proved to be an ideal starting point for this concept. “In Ghent, there's a strong focus on collaboration between the sector and tech suppliers to develop, test, and showcase innovations. Many knowledge institutions are located here, supporting new tech development and preparing talented technological minds for life as entrepreneurs. Additionally, there's a mature ecosystem to accelerate tech companies further.”

“Because our tech companies will be able to develop here, we're reducing the time to market and ensuring a better fit with the end user through collaboration with AZ Maria Middelares. It's important not to forget that institutions like these and Ghent University have been at the forefront for ten years in rapidly testing and demonstrating innovation in practice. By offering a physical landing spot for this development on our site, 'living labs' will become even more common. In the Health Arena, both worlds will thus receive necessary feedback from each other even more efficiently.'"

Clouds of Care

One of the companies that will establish itself in this new hub is Clouds of Care. They specialise in the development of biomarkers for quantifying brain functions. They have a SaaS platform for data analysis, offering it to pharmaceutical companies to better understand neurological disorders and optimise treatments. Their current focus is on epilepsy, where they measure epileptic activity through electro-physiological parameters. Their biomarkers are involved in over twenty studies worldwide.

“We've been at this for about seven years,” says CEO Gregor Strobbe, “stemming from academic research at Ghent University focused on developing software technology to analyse brain waves more quickly and automatically. During this period, we also established close ties with the group around Professor Boon at UZ Gent, specialising in epilepsy. We have also built a good relationship with Pascal Verdonck through AZ Maria Middelares.

So, you could say we stuck around in Ghent! (laughs). We went through the imec.istart program, so our DNA has become deeply rooted here. We are currently in WATT Factory, but we can't stay there due to our significant growth. When we heard about this new space from Julie, the choice was quickly made.”

Televitas

Televitas will also move into the building in the spring of 2025. This company has developed an innovative software platform that facilitates hybrid care (remote) and preventive measures. The platform distinguishes itself by integrating more than 100 wearables, sensors, and applications that systematically collect and share data with healthcare professionals. This allows medical specialists, alarm centres, nursing staff, and informal caregivers to monitor patients' health remotely. Televitas responds to the increasing pressure within healthcare through budgetary and staffing savings. The platform relieves workload, allowing attention to focus entirely on the patient again.

"With our consulting company onetowin, we have been based in Ghent for over ten years," says CCO Gio Verborg. "So, for this company, that region also seemed logical. We got to know Ghent as an entrepreneurial and innovative city, a magnet for talent, with a clear vision of research and development and a vibrant startup culture among the many established values. The new WATT The Health represents our love for transforming old buildings and uniting like-minded people in healthcare technology."

FAQIR

A third startup that has already claimed office space is FAQIR. This company wants to give individuals more control over their medical data by using personal 'Health Data Vaults' or 'PODs'. These data vaults ensure that you, as an individual, maintain control over your health information, contributing to better protection of your privacy. Users can determine who has access to their information and when to monitor their health daily and easily share their data with medical professionals. Their approach to healthcare always keeps the patient central because the best care starts with a thorough understanding of the individual needs and experiences of each patient. 

"We chose WATT The Health because we believe it is more than just an attractive location," says COO Yves Claeys. "It's also a vibrant community of innovators dedicated to transforming healthcare. Ghent is positioning itself as a global tech capital, and we're excited to contribute and grow within this dynamic ecosystem. We look forward to seeing how Ghent continues to support startups and scale-ups in the technology sector so that we can all innovate and thrive. Because together, we can really make a difference in healthcare."

LiveLunger

The startup that concludes the list - for now - is Livelunger. They develop telemonitoring systems for patients to self-manage their respiratory conditions. They have a fully operational, CE-approved digital assistant that continuously indicates a patient's asthma control. This is possible by measuring lung function at home through a Bluetooth spirometer and answering seven questions in the LungBeat self-management app. Livelunger aims to become a world leader in home monitoring, far ahead of the competition.

"The choice for Ghent was quickly made," says founder Veerle De Colvenaer, "because it's the city of healthtech and medtech. The proximity to the university, hospitals, MedVia, and flanders.bio was also a decisive factor. We've been active here for years and now know the ecosystem. Our long-standing friendship with Pascal Verdonck also ultimately led us to choose WATT The Health. We hope to collaborate smoothly with the pulmonologists at AZ Maria Middelares."