Serbian innovation at Cambridge contest – Young team Safe-Cath designs innovative catheter

(Nina Ukropina and Bosko Sremcevic) Nina Ukropina, a junior student at the Faculty of Organizational Sciences, and Bosko Sremcevic, a medical doctor, have designed an innovative catheter. On Thursday, March 7, at the Science-Technology Park of Belgrade, the Safe-Cath team from Belgrade won the first ImagineIF! contest for startups in the health sector in Serbia, and the next stop is Cambridge.

At the local contest, in addition to 11 teams, they presented their technical solution, which prevents the transfer of bacteria to the sterile section of the urinary tract.

As they say for eKapija, the potential market for this innovative product consists of as many as 300 million patients. Around 12-16% of all patients in hospitals worldwide have a urinary catheter, regardless of the kind of operation.

– This is a big market, which is expected to grow year after year – Nina Ukropina says.

She adds that the marketing goal of their team is the world market, with Serbia as one of the first countries where necessary test will be carried out.

– Putting medical equipment on the market is a long, hard process. We have now filed a request for a certificate, so that the product can be sold on the market. It takes at least two years to get one. The initial stage requires around USD 600,000, so we hope that we will be able to attract investors. In any case, the projections are that the profit will be big when we enter the market – Ukropina says.

Bosko Sremcevic says for eKapija that he started working on the new technical solution 4-5 years a ago as a student.

– This catheter prevents the process of the transfer of bacteria from the external environment to the sterile parts of the urinary tract, so the complications should drop by 50% – Sremcevic explains and adds that the fact that they've won the ImagineIF! contest is a big boost.

For Safe-Cath, this means participation at the global ImagineIF! contest at the Cambridge University on June 27, financing in the amount of EUR 2,000, as well as a six-month access to lab space at one of the global capitals of the ImagineIF! contest, including Belgrade.

A total of 12 teams took part in the first local Imagine IF! Program, which worked with over 40 mentors over the preceding month. Eight of them presented their business ideas. The winner was picked by an expert jury, consisting of professionals and entrepreneurs.

The contest was realized by the Innovation Forum Cambridge in cooperation with the Science-Technology Park of Belgrade and in partnership with the Health Tech Lab.

S. Petrovic

Naučno-tehnološki park Beograd

Health Tech Lab

Innovation Forum Cambridge

Cambridge University

ImagineIF contest

Nina Ukropina

Boško Sremčević

startup contest in Serbia

innovative catheter

Safe Cath team