Wasu Mekniran

Wasu Mekniran

Wasu Mekniran

M.Sc. MBA

Research Assistant & PhD

ITEM-HSG
Institute of Technology Management
Dufourstrasse 40a
9000 St. Gallen
Main Focuses

Business Analytics

Digital Health

Financial Modeling

Longevity Economy

Fields of research

Information Systems

Business Model Innovation

Further fields of research

Digitalization

Education
  • ETH Zurich, Switzerland: Dr.Sc. Candidate in Emerging Business Models for Digital Health
  • RWTH Aachen, Germany: M.Sc. in Simulation Sciences and MBA in Digitalization
  • Kyushu University, Japan: B.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering - Medical Robotics
Professional Career

Wasu is a doctoral researcher specializing in the healthcare market, focusing on business model innovation through digital health technologies. His work explores how these technologies drive proactive care, identify unmet needs in the longevity sector, and create scalable business models for disease prevention.

Previously, he was an engineer at Bosch, overseeing preventative quality in series production. He holds a B.Eng. in Medical Robotics, an MSc in Computational Sciences, and an MBA in Digitalization.

Currently, he leads research projects in healthcare innovation, applying unsupervised learning methods on value proposition design and financial modeling for digital health ventures.

Teaching Activities

Representer: Operations Management

Projects

EDEN: Emerging Business Models in Digital Healthy Longevity

The EDEN project investigates how digital health technologies (DHTs) can be strategically deployed to scale preventive care—particularly for type 2 diabetes—across health systems. Our focus is on uncovering structural, financial, and regulatory barriers to implementation and using novel business model approaches to overcome these. We work closely with health service providers, insurers, investors, and technology partners to design, evaluate, and de-risk digital prevention solutions.

Project Summary

Using a mixed-methods design, we integrate empirical data collection—via surveys, interviews, and expert panels—with secondary analyses of scientific literature, startup data (e.g. PitchBook, Crunchbase), and financial benchmarks. Our research advances a new generation of prevention-first business models designed to activate stakeholder incentives, reduce misalignment, and embed digital tools into long-term care pathways.

The core of EDEN includes:

  • Theoretical and computational modeling using Herzlinger’s Six-Factor Framework, the e3-Value method, and our proprietary EDEN platform (RAG-enabled incentive mapping).

  • Financial viability assessments including breakeven, discounted cash flow, and scalability modeling tailored for Swiss market.

  • Natural Language Processing techniques such as topic modeling and stakeholder proposition alignment to identify emerging value pools and collaboration opportunities.


Core Research Questions

 

“How can we implement type 2 diabetes prevention with digital biomarkers?”

 

We address this through four interlinked studies:

  1. Ecosystem Mapping – Identifying stakeholder roles, needs, and alignment patterns in the healthy longevity domain.

  2. Implementation Gap Analysis – Examining real-world challenges faced by practitioners deploying preventive programs.

  3. Digital Disruption & Incentive Innovation – Analyzing how DHTs shift stakeholder roles and unlock new incentive architectures.

  4. Scalability & Business Model Fit – Evaluating financial sustainability, market conditions, and policy integration in Switzerland.

Our recent work also introduces the 4R Framework (Reach, Retain, Report, Reimburse) to guide integration of preventive models into mainstream health financing.

Awards
  • National University of Singapore (NUS) HLTI 2024 Research Grant
  • Deutschlandstipendium Scholarship
  • MEXT Japanese Government Scholarship
  • DAAD Programm STIBET III Matching Funds
  • Kyushu University International Undergraduate Scholarship
  • US Program of Academic Highschool Exchange (PAX) Scholarship
Talks
  • Panel discussion 'Healthcare Innovation' in Davos during World Economic Forum 2024, Switzerland
  • Guest lecture ‘Enabling Healthy Longevity: How to innovate healthcare with digital health’, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, Srinakharinwirot University, 2024, Thailand
Research Cooperation
  1. Centre for Digital Health Interventions, Doctoral Researcher
  2. ETH AI Center, Associated Researcher
  3. NUS School of Medicine, Academy for Healthy Longevit
Alexandria Forschungsteam

Emerging Business Models in Digital Health

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