Arjo enters into exclusive R&D partnership with Next Step Dynamics

Arjo, a market-leading supplier of medical devices and solutions, has entered into an exclusive partnership with Next Step Dynamics, a Swedish technology company specialising in predictive analytics, for development and sales of solutions for preventive healthcare. According to the terms of the partnership, Arjo has committed to spend
SEK 70 M on development projects for solutions within the area of predictive analytics.

“This partnership is very much in line with our digitalization strategy and offers a fantastic opportunity for us to develop innovations that can really make a difference for both the users and healthcare professionals, as well as for society in general, for example by reducing the cost of care,” says Joacim Lindoff.

For elderly people, falling presents a high risk of injuries such as hip fractures, which in turn are a common cause of more serious – and in many cases fatal – illnesses. Falls are the second leading cause of accidental or unintentional injury deaths worldwide. In the US, an elderly person dies every 20 minutes due to a fall and many more are badly injured*, resulting in high healthcare costs. Furthermore, the demographic changes in society leading to a growing elderly population could mean that fall-related injuries are expected to rise sharply in the next few years.

Together with Next Step Dynamics, Arjo will develop a range of solutions for predicting and preventing not only patient and resident injuries but also caregiver injuries. The partnership grants Arjo global exclusive rights to commercialise and distribute solutions generated from this collaboration. One such example is a smart wearable that analyses data indicative of patient and resident well being such as balance, lower body strength and sleep in order to predict the risk of a fall among, for example, elderly people or people with reduced mobility. This risk is then seamlessly shared with authorized care professionals, thereby enabling them to take preventive action based on a scientific deep learning algorithm. The solution has been reviewed by more than 160 healthcare professionals, and the product can be used by care units as well as in the home, and can be customised to individual needs.

“With joint resources, we will take the products for preventive healthcare to the next level. For us, the partnership with Arjo also means access to industry expertise, thus reduced time to market, enabling us to serve urgent needs on the global market faster”, says Karthik Srinivasan, founder of Next Step Dynamics.

Both parties are entering the partnership with a long-term view. As a first step, Arjo has committed to spend SEK 70 M over a period of 24 months on development projects for preventive and proactive care. The recently announced efficiency measures related to the San Antonio development function has enabled reallocation of resources into the digitalization area and thes