HealthTech of the Week: Innovation in medicine is a process, not a gadget. A conversation with Dr. Tomasz Maciejewski, Director of the Mother and Child Institute

The guest of the last August edition of the Healthtech of the Week series is someone whose insights not only broaden knowledge but also inspire. For decades, the Mother and Child Institute in Warsaw has been a place where medicine meets technology. Its Director and our interviewee, Dr. Tomasz Maciejewski, proves that the institute not only provides treatment but also actively tests and implements innovations. Its history includes pioneering newborn screening programs, the first gene therapies in Poland, and endoprostheses that grow with the patient. We discussed the state of Polish medtech as well as the upcoming finals of the MCSC Hospital Leadership Innovation competition.

But before moving on to the present, let’s go back a few years. The COVID-19 pandemic became a turning point. Before the introduction of telemedicine and AI solutions often faced resistance, with arguments that “it couldn’t be done.” However, the shift to remote consultations, monitoring, and data analysis – forced by sanitary restrictions – revealed that the barriers were more mental than technological. Healthcare professionals quickly realized that digital tools could be a valuable support, easing part of their workload and improving access to care.

– This experience paved the way for the establishment of the AI and Innovation Department at our Institute in 2022 – a specialized unit tasked with connecting the startup and technology world with hospital realities. Its first team members were Karolina Tądel and Wiktor Możarowski. A key element of their work became the Mother and Child Startup Challenge – our flagship competition for young medtech companies – explains Maciejewski.

The first edition covered five hospitals, and later editions expanded further. At the beginning of 2025, the competition underwent a complete rebranding, becoming MCSC Hospital Leadership Innovation. This allowed for a broader formula, extending beyond pediatric patients. Today, the MCSC ecosystem brings together 16 medical facilities from across Poland. The competition is gaining growing international recognition. This year, as many as 90 innovators from all over the world applied – an absolute record.

The entire process is coordinated by an interdisciplinary IMiD team: the Implementation Department – Center for Innovation and Artificial Intelligence. It includes Radosław Nowak, Nikoletta Buczek, Ewelina Tomaszczyk, Monika Dobrzeniecka, and Małgorzata Maj. They act as the “first filter,” helping innovators connect with the hospital. The team also ensures that testing technologies in the facility is done safely, with respect for both patients and data security as well as infrastructure.

The role of trust in technology

This approach verifies whether solutions are more than flashy demonstrators and actually support staff while fitting into clinical workflows. The interdisciplinary competition Jury emphasizes three key elements: actual clinical usefulness, compliance with legal requirements (including public procurement), and ease of integration with hospital IT systems. Challenges arise frequently – from startups’ and companies’ lack of understanding of the end user, through product-hospital mismatch, to limited scalability and lack of readiness for formal requirements.

According to Dr. Maciejewski, the greatest needs of Polish medicine in terms of innovation include reducing bureaucracy and automating medical documentation, enabling rapid integration of patient data from many sources with predictive modules to support clinical decisions, and developing tools to coordinate care among different specialists while engaging patients in their treatment. IoT solutions and predictive analytics, optimizing resource management can also play an important role here.

Time for change – nationwide

We could not miss the question about the future. The Institute’s long-term vision involves the unification and standardization of medical data in Poland, including information exchange formats and terminological dictionaries. This is a prerequisite for AI tools to fully utilize the potential of national resources. IMiD is collaborating in this field with leading international centers, including Mayo Clinic and Karolinska Institutet.

– The first major implementation success of the department was the use of VR technology in pediatric surgery in cooperation with CarnaLife Holo MedApp. The project received wide recognition from the medical community and became a symbol of a practical approach to innovation. Since then, the Institute has carried out further initiatives with a common denominator: effectively transitioning from prototype to clinical standard – explains the Director of the Mother and Child Institute.

During our conversation, our guest repeatedly emphasized that innovation is not just an idea. It is a process that must evolve from vision to everyday practice – a point also highlighted in McKinsey and Deloitte reports. This very approach – combining strategic thinking, openness to technology, and close cooperation of the entire IMiD team – makes the Warsaw Institute one of the leaders of Polish healthtech, while the competition becomes a forge of solutions that genuinely transform healthcare. Many of them we have described during the Healthtech of the Week series, and we hope to do so again with innovators from the current edition.

The 4th MCSC Hospital Leadership Innovation Finals are near

Although the final gala of the fourth edition will take place on October 21, on September 17, the Hospital Innovation Summit – one of the most important events of this year’s competition – will already be held. At the Warsaw Gasworks Museum, company representatives, startups, doctors, investors, and healthcare policymakers will meet. That is when the 10 finalists will present their groundbreaking solutions to a wide audience. In addition to the pitching session, the program includes a debate with public sector representatives, workshops, and networking opportunities.

It is worth noting that participation in the Hospital Innovation Summit is free of charge and open to everyone upon prior registration. All information is available on LinkedIn and on the website www.mcsc.pl

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Stay tuned for more in the “HealthTech of the Week” series, where we’ll continue to uncover fascinating stories from the world of medical technologies that are changing the face of healthcare. If you’re working on an innovative project in the field of new technologies and medicine or want to recommend an interesting solution, contact us at: [email protected].