STELLA (Strengthening of Translational Ecosystems for Lifesaving Local Access) Center of Excellence (CoE) is a collaborative platform driven by the Innovation Office of the University of Basel. It aims to address health systems challenges, globally, by leveraging a critical mass of competencies and generating innovative & entrepreneurial solutions, while supporting local ownership.

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Embedded in the University of Basel Innovation Office, STELLA has been initiated as a public-private partnership, the founding partners being the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), Novartis, and the University of Oslo. Although independent in pursuing its goals, STELLA works in synergy with its partners and is open for more public & private sector entities & innovators from all over the world to join its efforts.

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STELLA’s mission is to enable health systems strengthening with a double focus: globally, and in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). This is done by creating a unique ecosystem of public and private partners, spanning diverse industries and fields of expertise. Running the “Innovation Engine”, STELLA works with its partners, jointly discovering and interpreting needs and gaps within health systems by applying digital tools and methods, facilitating solutions ideation and enabling their implementation in alignment with the participating partners.

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STELLA Innovation Engine steps are the following:

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1. Discover – identify challenges in Health Systems, by engaging with “Challenge Owners”;
 

2. Interpret – research partners and technical experts provide insights in defining potential causes and solution paths / roadmaps;
 

3. Ideate – together with the broad range of stakeholders and partners identified and engaged, including local partners’ ownership, potential solutions are identified and scoped;
 

4. Propose – project concepts are prepared, together with the engaged stakeholders, and proposed for implementation and execution by the relevant partners, with STELLA enabling the entrepreneurial and innovation-driven approach.

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STELLA does not directly nor indirectly access or utilize health data, but rather enables different stakeholders to assess gaps in global health and develop evidence-based collaborative solutions, with innovative and collaborative spirit. 

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STELLA strongly believes that entrepreneurial solutions are key to address health systems needs and gaps globally and in LMICs. It therefore partners with start-ups, start-up incubators and innovation ecosystems in LMICs, in Switzerland and across the world, in order to bring relevant solutions into the “Innovation Engine” – join us at stella@unibas.ch!