The rapidly growing company has chosen Manchester as their growth location in the UK. – A dynamic ecosystem and innovation minded stakeholders make this area perfect for deploying health technology, says Dignio UK Managing Director Dr Ewa Truchanowicz.
Dignio was founded in Norway in 2010 with a vision of empowering patients to manage their own health and to liberate the clinicians from the drudgery of routine follow up of stable patients. As a value-driven software company Dignio aims to help bridge the digital divide and make technology an enabler of healthy ageing and independence.
– Dignio’s vision and years of experience were presented last year to the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee on Healthy Ageing, where our holistic vision of what enables healthy ageing was of great interest. However, visions can only be realized when there is sufficient and real support from the key stakeholders. The ambitions for supporting healthy ageing Dignio found in the Greater Manchester area, made it an obvious candidate for establishing closer ties with.
Why Manchester?
Attracted by the focus on well defined Longevity Economy in the GMCA area, and the assistance provided by MIDAS, Health Innovation Manchester and other local stakeholders, Dignio chose to settle in Bruntwood’s offices at Piccadilly.
– With regular meetings with the HQ team flying in from Norway, the location close to the main train station, with flexible use spaces, was an obvious choice for the company.
According to Dr Truchanowicz the partnership with MIDAS was vital for choosing the location.
– We are delighted with the assistance offered to us by MIDAS. Their local expertise is unparalleled and as a consequence of their help we have a much greater understanding of the local ecosystem and its needs. Dingo have been working with Mastercall, a social enterprise providing out of hours care in the region, on a pilot project sponsored by the Stockport City Council since 2019 to detect and manage deterioration in individuals in care homes and communities.
– The feedback on our solution from the clinicians at Mastercall and patients on our solution is very encouraging. Now we are looking forward to presenting it to healthcare providers in the rest of the region, Dr Truchanowicz says.
Relevance to the local needs
Manchester made the national headlines recently with the grave impact of COVID-19 on the local economy. The new variants of the virus make fighting COVID-19 still high on the agenda.
Dignio’s solution allows citizens, especially those suffering from suspected or confirmed COVID-19 or long term conditions, to receive appropriate care safely in a true ‘digital first’ form. When COVID-19 struck British shores, the solution was successfully implemented to monitor COVID-19 with Mastercall. Dudley CCG in the West Midlands have also commissioned Dignio to deliver COVID-19 monitoring in community, and this has now been expanded to care homes, in collaboration with the West Midlands 5G project.
Dignio’s technology can be seen in action at the Salford Digital Experience Centre, a facility at Global Digital Exemplar, the Salford Royal Hospital, to help clinicians find technologies to support their work. Dignio takes an active approach to their presence in the region, and aims to bring social value and economic growth to the local community.
According to Dr Truchanowicz, Dignio are looking forward to accelerated growth of their presence in the region, enabled by the STEP INto Healthcare programme from the Health Innovation Manchester, and insights from ABHI and Bionow.