German quantum tech company NVision could save lives by allowing the earliest assessment of response to cancer therapy in a safer way.
ADVERTISEMENTEurope is no stranger to innovation, with its flourishing start-ups helping a continent eager to grow its unicorn stable.
To recognise their contribution, the EU Commission has awarded prestigious prizes to the most promising innovations emerging from EU-funded research and innovation projects.
Its top pick for the Innovation Radar Prize is a German quantum tech company that could save lives by allowing the earliest assessment of response to cancer therapy in a safer way.
NVision does this by using a hyperpolarisation platform, which is a promising technique for improving the sensitivity of magnet and chemical testing. This allows standard MRIs to provide oncologists unprecedented early insights into treatment efficacy at a metabolic level.
This is significant as changes in tissues are only visible months after the onset of treatment with a standard MRI. But with the Metabolic MRI, cellular changes can be seen within seven days.
“Patients who are found to have resistant tumours can shift to a combination therapy or alternate drug, whereas patients who are found to have sensitive tumours can confidently continue with the same treatment - but with certainty,” NVision says on its website.
One of the company’s aims is to roll out its technology easily so that it can be integrated into other MRI labs.
NVision was the overall winner of the EU’s Innovation Radar Prize, which saw over 300 applicants narrowed down to 12 finalists in total.
Growth of Europe's green tech start-ups
With Europe eager to meet its climate targets, a burgeoning number of green tech companies have sprung up across the bloc.
The winner of the Purpose-driven and Green Category was the Romanian company Svelte.
The company was created to address the challenges of reducing CO2 emissions in massive development while avoiding the depletion of natural resources and on-site production.
It is a massive task that if the technology is used in architecture can also reduce the cost of a design building by up to 60 per cent.
Meanwhile, the winner of the Kickstarter Category was Spain’s Polytechnic Univerity of Madrid.
With sustainability its main focus, the university has developed a thermophotovoltaic battery that can produce combined heat and electricity on demand and can store surplus renewable energy for long periods.
The overall Innovation Radar Prize winner will be featured in a special Euronews broadcast later this year.
