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

Health Technology Assessment

Digital Health

Financial Modeling

Longevity Economy

Fields of research

Health Technology Assessment

Information Systems

Business Model Innovation

Further fields of research

Digitalization

Education
  • ETH Zurich, Switzerland: Dr. sc. Candidate in Business Modeling 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 Mekniran is a doctoral researcher in Information Management at ETH Zürich and Technology Management at the University of St. Gallen. His work extends development-focused HTA into a framework that aligns incentives for payers, providers, and investors. By embedding budget impact analysis, performance headroom, cost-effectiveness analysis, and financial modeling, he identifies when digital health innovations in prevention are both implementable and investable. His research focuses on digital biomarkers, proactive care, and scalable business models for healthy longevity.

Teaching Activities

Representer: Operations Management

Projects

EDEN: Emerging Business Models in Digital Healthy Longevity

The EDEN project develops methods to make digital prevention both implementable and investable. Our case focus is type 2 diabetes, where digital health technologies (DHTs) can detect risk earlier, engage patients, and extend healthy life years.

We investigate structural, financial, and regulatory barriers to scaling prevention and design business models that align incentives for providers, payers, patients, developers, and investors. Our approach combines theory, computational modeling, and real-world data to de-risk implementation and guide market adoption.

Key links:

Project Summary

EDEN applies a mixed-methods design to advance prevention-first business models. We integrate surveys, interviews, and expert panels with secondary analyses of scientific literature, venture data (PitchBook, Crunchbase), and financial benchmarks.

Core components:

  • Frameworks: our proprietary RAG-enabled EDEN platform for incentive mapping, development-focused Health Technology Assessment

  • Financials: breakeven, discounted cash flow, and scalability modeling tailored to the Swiss context.

  • Data Science: NLP for topic modeling and proposition alignment, identifying emerging value pools and collaboration opportunities.

Core Research Question:
“How can we implement and invest in type 2 diabetes prevention with digital biomarkers?”

This is addressed through four interlinked studies:

  1. Ecosystem Mapping – stakeholder roles, needs, and alignment in healthy longevity.

  2. Implementation Gap Analysis – real-world challenges in preventive program delivery.

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

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

“EDEN turns prevention into an asset class for health systems.”

Awards
  • TalentKick Entrepreneurial Fellowship 2025
  • 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 Speaker, AI in Drug Development 2025 – Session hosted by the Polish Embassy at Google Campus, Zurich (2025).

  • Panel Moderator, Davos Innovation Week – World Economic Forum (2024).

  • Guest Lecturer, Enabling Healthy Longevity: How to Innovate Healthcare with Digital Health – Department of Biomedical Engineering, Srinakharinwirot University, Thailand (2024).

  • Poster Presentation, Incentive Systems for Diabetes Prevention with Digital Health – Annual Meeting of the Swiss Society of Endocrinology and Diabetology (SGED) (2024).
Editorial Board
  • Reviewer, IEEE Internet of Things Journal – eHealth & mHealth.

  • Reviewer, International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) 2025.

Research Cooperation
  1. Centre for Digital Health Interventions, Doctoral Researcher
  2. ETH AI Center, Associated Researcher
  3. NUS School of Medicine, Academy for Healthy Longevity
Alexandria Forschungsteam

Emerging Business Models in Digital Health

Teaching qualifications

Teaching

  • Design and delivery of executive education modules on digital health, prevention, and healthcare business models.
  • Skilled in teaching complex topics (HTA, financial modeling, data science) to interdisciplinary professionals.

  • Applied interactive methods such as case studies, simulation-based approaches, and project-based learning.

Supervised Theses (Selection):

  1. Prevention in Health Care: Case Studies to Derive Success Factors – S. Winkelmann

  2. Business Model Innovation in Digital Healthcare: A Systematic Literature Review – V. Stalder

  3. Business Model Innovation in Preventive Care: A Systematic Literature Review – W. Diethelm

  4. Analysis of Business Scaling of Swiss Digital Health Ventures – S. Jordi

  5. Healthcare Ecosystems for Preventive Care: Role of Swiss Health Insurance – C. Cathomas

  6. Business Model Analysis of Digital Healthy Longevity Companies – K. Klebinger

  7. Ambient Scribes for Healthcare: Growth Strategies and Strategic Enablers – M. Kubiak

  8. From “Price per Pill” to “Price per Outcome” with Digital Therapeutics – J. Kühne

  9. Addressing Financing Challenges in Digital Health Prevention in Switzerland – M. Josi

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