Health Technology Assessment
Digital Health
Financial Modeling
Longevity Economy
Health Technology Assessment
Information Systems
Business Model Innovation
Digitalization
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.
Representer: Operations Management
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:
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:
Ecosystem Mapping – stakeholder roles, needs, and alignment in healthy longevity.
Implementation Gap Analysis – real-world challenges in preventive program delivery.
Digital Disruption & Incentive Innovation – how DHTs reshape roles and unlock new incentive architectures.
Scalability & Business Model Fit – financial sustainability, market conditions, and policy integration in Switzerland.
“EDEN turns prevention into an asset class for health systems.”
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).
Reviewer, IEEE Internet of Things Journal – eHealth & mHealth.
Reviewer, International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) 2025.
Emerging Business Models in Digital Health
Teaching
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):
Prevention in Health Care: Case Studies to Derive Success Factors – S. Winkelmann
Business Model Innovation in Digital Healthcare: A Systematic Literature Review – V. Stalder
Business Model Innovation in Preventive Care: A Systematic Literature Review – W. Diethelm
Analysis of Business Scaling of Swiss Digital Health Ventures – S. Jordi
Healthcare Ecosystems for Preventive Care: Role of Swiss Health Insurance – C. Cathomas
Business Model Analysis of Digital Healthy Longevity Companies – K. Klebinger
Ambient Scribes for Healthcare: Growth Strategies and Strategic Enablers – M. Kubiak
From “Price per Pill” to “Price per Outcome” with Digital Therapeutics – J. Kühne
Addressing Financing Challenges in Digital Health Prevention in Switzerland – M. Josi