This Thursday at Community Breakfast, we had the pleasure of meeting Andrea, Project Manager at NeoCare Nordic, a Danish medtech startup based at Republikken.
Andrea gave us an open and inspiring look into what it is like to work in a medtech company, where project management can mean everything from funding and investor research to product development and international growth.
At the centre of it all is one clear purpose: making care for premature and vulnerable babies safer and easier for healthcare professionals and families.
Much More Than Project Management
Andrea is officially a Project Manager, but her role is much broader than the title suggests.
NeoCare Nordic is a growing team, so everyone wears several hats.
Andrea supports the CEO, looks for investors, applies for funding and leads funded projects. She is also closely involved in product development and many of the practical decisions that come with growing a medtech company.
A big part of the role is simply asking: what needs to happen next?
And then helping make it happen.
Solving a Real Challenge in Neonatal Care
NeoCare Nordic develops CareFold®, a neonatal mattress-carrier designed for premature and vulnerable babies.
Premature babies can be extremely fragile and often have many tubes and wires attached to them. Even moving a baby from an incubator to a parent can require several nurses and careful planning.
CareFold® stays with the baby inside the incubator and helps nurses move and handle the child while keeping tubes and wires more secure.
One of the main goals is to make skin-to-skin contact between parents and newborns easier.
Andrea explained that even very fragile babies can sometimes now be moved for skin-to-skin contact when staff previously might not have felt comfortable doing so.
That can make a meaningful difference for both babies and parents.
From Idea to Growing MedTech Company
CareFold® is already on the market, but development continues.
Bringing a medical product into hospitals involves much more than creating a good design. Regulations, certifications, production standards, clinical feedback and documentation are all part of the journey.
NeoCare Nordic is now growing across Europe, while continuing to develop the product based on feedback from healthcare professionals.
Andrea spoke about the balance between continuing to improve the product and knowing when to focus on getting it into more hospitals.
There is always another idea, but a growing company also needs to decide what matters most right now.
Funding and Finding the Right Partners
Funding is another important part of Andrea’s work.
She navigates Danish and European funding programmes and has worked on projects supported by the Danish Life Science Cluster.
She also spends time finding investors and partners who understand medtech, neonatal care and what it takes to bring regulated healthcare products to market.
For Andrea, growing the company is therefore not only about the product itself. It is also about building the right network around it.
A Personal Connection
Andrea’s path into NeoCare Nordic is also a personal one.
She has a background in health promotion and project management and previously worked within the health sector.
She is also the parent of a child who was born prematurely.
When she first heard about NeoCare Nordic, the company immediately caught her attention. She reached out directly, and that conversation eventually led to her joining the team.
Her own experience gives her a personal understanding of what families go through during a neonatal hospital stay and a strong connection to the purpose behind the product.
Growing at Republikken
NeoCare Nordic has been growing at Republikken and recently expanded from one office to two.
The company also works closely with engineering partners nearby when developing and improving the product.
Having those people close makes collaboration easier and helps ideas move faster.
Andrea’s story was a great look into the many sides of building a medtech company, and how project management can sit right in the middle of product development, funding, healthcare and growth.
We are very happy to have Andrea and the NeoCare Nordic team as part of the Republikken community.
Thank you for sharing your story, Andrea, and for giving us a closer look at the work behind a growing medtech company.