Blog & News

We are excited to share some great news – smartQare is teaming up with Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) for a special study with viQtor* that's making big waves in the medical world.

smartQare announces strategic partnership with Philips to improve Remote Patient Monitoring solutions for healthcare providers and patients around the world.

Since 1967, CES Las Vegas has become the global stage for innovation. Every year, more than 180,000 participants from more than 160 countries gather here. Technological innovations, both for B2C and B2B, are showcased at CES to potential customers, partners, investors and global media.

We are proud to announce that smartQare has been awarded a new R&D grant: Pressure, a 3-year (partly European) grant under the OpZuid (EFRO) programme.

Our new CFO Jan-Hein Auf dem Brinke has a background as a chartered accountant at KPMG. There, he served a variety of clients in the financial sector including banks, investment companies and insurers. After KPMG, he held various management positions at banks and start-ups. Most recently, he served as CFO of GoFlow Technology, a start-up in ventilation technology, where, among other things, he was heavily involved in securing financing. Meet Jan-Hein Auf dem Brinke.

Information security is of paramount importance to smartQare. We want to be sure that all data within our company cannot fall into the wrong hands. Laura Pomstra, together with our security officer, is now working on obtaining NEN7510 and ISO27001 certification for information security in healthcare.

We are fully engaged in studies and living labs in which we test the use of viQtor for a specific target group; in a specific situation, together with clinical partners. This results in very valuable information on the basis of which we can further develop viQtor and on the basis of which the clinical partners get a better picture of how and where monitoring can add value in their operational processes and for their patient target group(s).

We are on a mission! To improve healthcare. Offer a solution to current capacity shortages. Be able to start preventing care.

In the week of 16-20 April, de Brabantse Ontwikkelingsmaatschappij (BOM), OostNL and Liof organised a trade mission to Medical Alley in Minnesota in the US. 17 Innovative MedTech companies were invited to an inspiring programme in the premier MedTech hotspot of the US, and smartQare was there!

When you see the advanced technology hidden in our viQtor, the bracelet in which it is worn seems only of secondary importance.

Since March 2023, smartQare has been admitted as a member of the Barcelona Health Hub.

With the CE certification obtained by smartQare in August 2022, viQtor can be used as a monitoring solution for healthcare within the EU.

Wonderful news: smartQare has been awarded two grants

The first distribution agreement is a fact! Our first distributor is Airo Health Care.

Our team is constantly refining and developing the medical technology behind viQtor. In this process, we also receive support from students. For example, last year Frank Boon, Head of Research, could count on Simone de Jonge, a student at the Technical University in Eindhoven. She did the research for a new measurement within our 24/7 monitoring solution.

We are fully engaged in the market validation of viQtor. This month we will start monitoring COPD patients from General Practition Practice Meuwissen, van Ballegooijen and Vosseberg in Wageningen.

smartQare is working hard on the technical roadmap that expands the capabilities of viQtor, making viQtor even more relevant to existing and also new use cases/users.

At the invitation of the Ministry of Economy and Climate, we participated in CES Las Vegas 2023. CES (Consumer Electronics Show from January 5 to 8 last year) has been a successful fair with 115,000 visitors mainly from the US and Asia.

In previous newsletters we have shared job openings. We are pleased with the new colleagues we have since welcomed.

smartQare has finished a wonderful year 2022. A selection of highlights the team looks back on;

To experience how viQtor works in real life, smartQare sets up living labs at healthcare organizations. There, clients and healthcare professionals discover the added value of our 24-7 monitoring solution. For the first living lab, we have entered into a partnership with Sensire, a large and innovative care institution in the Netherlands, and Medical Service Centre NAAST-ZCN. Project manager Reinier Vrolijk and nursing researcher Judith Douma share their initial findings.

Fred Hoogeveen (72) was always a real sportsman. He lived a healthy and active life. Until an accident turned his life upside down. Now he is paralyzed from the chest down. Yet he still gets the most out of his life every day.

With the CE marking, viQtor is ready for use. The first phase is now to demonstrate the value of viQtor in practice in relatively small-scale pilots. To this end, we enter into partnerships with various (innovative) healthcare institutions.

On November 30, we submitted all documents for admission of viQtor to the US market. No fewer than 121 documents and reports have been prepared for this purpose

SmartQare has been a coalition partner in the 'vliegwiel coalitie' since this month. The 'vliegwiel coalitie' is a partnership between patients & clients (representatives), healthcare providers/care providers, health insurers and suppliers. The coalition has about 50 partners and this number is growing every month.

Now that our viQtor has the CE mark, we are building the next step: conducting applied clinical studies in medical practice. This proves the added value of our solution for 24-hour monitoring compared to the current clinical standard. Jeroen Kortsmit is responsible for this process. As Clinical Science Manager, he focuses on setting up the clinical validation strategy.

viQtor has been developed as a complete solution for 24/7 monitoring: a wearable for the upper arm, a web platform with dashboards and an app.

At smartQare we are regularly asked how our solution differs from the smartwatch or wristband. CE certification is required in Europe for use in the medical domain.

smartQare will be part of the #NLatCES mission 2023. CES, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas is the world’s most influential tech trade show, January 5-8, 2023.

We are incredibly proud that as of today August 24, viQtor is one of the first continuous monitoring solutions in Europe to be CE class IIa certified based on the Medical Device Regulation (MDR). The CE certification has been awarded for the complete solution: the device with the software (platform).

Souraya Verhaegen is our QA/RA manager and responsible for the quality control and regulation of our viQtor solution. Together with our users, she has the most important voice in our organization, because if Souraya rejects an idea, the plan will not go ahead. That is how important the quality system is in the development of a medical application.

Our new CEO Cecile Goldman has enjoyed a career in various management positions at hospitals and healthcare facilities. She has now taken over from Walter and will further expand smartQare in the scale-up phase. Meet Cecile Goldman, a passionate leader with a heart for care.

Cecile Goldman-Corbeij will shape the expansion of smartQare as the new Chief Executive Officer. She succeeds Walter van Kuijen, who will remain actively involved in smartQare as a strategic advisor and co-shareholder.

The viQtor, our wearable for 24-hour monitoring, measures, among other things, the oxygen level in the blood. At the end of 2021, the LUMC, led by anesthesiologist Rutger van der Schrier, calibrated and validated the oxygen saturation measurements. With this, viQtor has taken an important step towards CE class IIa marking.

The viQtor solution is an ingenious interplay between the high-tech device that clients wear on the upper arm and a practical app for caregivers. Vital values are processed and communicated 24/7 in the background. We get a look behind the scenes in a conversation with our COO, Paul Smilde.

We have successfully completed a €3 million funding round for the medical validation and certification of our unique 24/7 (home) monitoring & diagnostics solution, viQtor. Read more...

In the run-up to the market launch, we brought in former Philips healthcare innovation manager Henk Stapert PhD. As our new CTO, Stapert will focus on the technological path to the CE class IIB marking for medical devices based on the Medical Device Regulation (MDR) and the further development of our network care. Meet a driven innovator.

NEN-EN-ISO 13485:2016 is an international set of standards and specifies requirements for a quality management system for an organization that supplies medical devices and related services. Read more...

During the Mobile Healthcare Innovation Café, leading healthcare professionals gathered to discuss the future of eHealth. Our CEO Walter van Kuijen was also present.

After a period of 4 years of intensive development, smartQare is ready for the introduction of its innovative 24/7 monitoring solution.

A circle is not complete until you close it. That is my motto and the story of my life at the same time. But this story is mainly about Mrs. Janssen, a lady with a chronic condition that needs care.