CORDIS

The main concern of parents once the baby is born is sleeping conditions (baby’s and theirs). Sleeping is fundamental for brain maturing and consolidation of knowledge and memories. It should be highlighted that sleep deprivation among parents severely reduces work productivity and it is one of the main causes of road accidents.

Therefore, there is a strong need in the market for smart systems to monitor and analyse babies sleep aiming to guarantee the baby’s healthy sleep and thus, reassure new parents. Current products in the market are simple audio/video systems or wearables most of them in beta version that end up in bothering or irritating the baby.

SensoDream is an Ecus® mattress specially designed for the baby comfort and health that also incorporates different types of sensors (humidity, pressure, etc.) and a data processing unit (electronic hub). It also includes a smart app that informs whether or not the baby is on the crib as well as the baby sleep. The data processing unit is unique and provides full data analysis. It also tracks poor sleep, its causes and subsequently, gives recommendations.

With SensoDream, we can guarantee babies and parents’ health, enabling to set up healthy sleeping routines and provide reassurance and peace of mind to parents. Hence, this is fully in line with new regulations and programmes put in place by governments aiming to solve the growing EU and global concern of lack of sleep in our societies.

The main objective of this Phase 1 project (financed by the European Commission with the grant agreement number 866949) is to guarantee the technical, commercial and financial feasibility of our innovation and present the projected results from its implementation into the market, confirming customer’s interest. For that purpose, several activities were carried out: technical feasibility analysis, study of potential market segments, risks, estimate manufacturing costs, sales prices and financial feasibility projections.

After the success results obtained from this feasibility study, all goals established upon submission of the SME Instrument Phase 1 have been met completely. Due to the window opportunity identified after the implementation of these four months of project, an early granted of EC for the Phase 2 of this project is considered a fundamental milestone for Ecus® and they will submit a proposal for EIC Accelerator SME Instrument Phase 2 in the following call.

SensoDream was proposed for the SME Instrument call (February 2019) as a Phase 1 project, which was financed by the European Commission (Grant agreement number: 866949). After 4 months of execution, a feasibility study report has been prepared detailing an overview of the technical, commercial and financial aspects analysed within SensoDream solution.

From a technical point of view, technical objectives were well approached. A deep intellectual property and regulations analysis was done and no conflict with our solution was found. The novelty of our solution relies in reassuring parents about all concerns regarding baby sleep. It is the evolution of the healthy, comfortable and successful infant mattress, now including a cloud-based sleep monitoring and analysis system.

After completing a thorough market study, we can confirm the commercial feasibility of SensoDream in infant sleep, infant surveillance and IoT markets. Initially, we will establish our target markets in Europe, with particular attention to Spain, France and Germany. After this first expansion, we will move to Asian countries, where there is a huge market quote in China and Ecus® have already established some contact network. Finally, the final expansion will be into North America countries (USA, Canada and Mexico) where the potential of e-commerce platforms and distributors network will help the company to penetrate to this market.

To reach this expansion, they will hire commercial experts to carry out these activities. In terms of dissemination, we will use several ways to communicate our SensoDream innovation such as webpage, promotional materials, articles on specialised childcare blogs, among others.

Finally, the financial business model was validated during the current study and it is foreseen to apply for a grant to the Phase 2 SME Instrument and receive additional financial support.
Conservative financial forecasts for the first 5 years of the project shows a payback period of 2.44 years and a R.O.I (5 years) of 14.16%. Very conservative and optimistic financial scenarios have also been accounted for.

Comparing current solutions regarding smart mattresses and monitoring and analysis solutions, SensoDream development is an innovative product not only in terms of technical performances, but also in terms of price and value for money.

SensoDream is an EcusKids® mattress integrating a sleep monitoring and analysis system that will disrupt the bedding product industry and the infant surveillance system business, resulting in high levels of peacefulness and reassurance provided to parents regarding their baby wellbeing. SensoDream isn’t only a technology, it seeks to go one step further, ensuring the health of both children and parents. The good sleep of the children is essential to have a healthy population in the future, both mentally and physically. A proper rest of babies allow them to learn, grow and develop themselves properly.

In addition, our innovation will result in collateral financial saving for the public sector as the work productivity will not be affected by lack of sleep of parents, less health problems for babies and parents will mean healthier citizens and therefore, less collateral expenses for the public health system.

Finally, the economic impact of this project is quite evident. This technological and innovative product will allow Ecus® to could disrupt new markets apart from the infant bedding which generates over €287,7M each year. Concretely, they will enter to infant surveillance markets as it is the first mattress with a game-changing innovation for the baby comfort and health, and during the period 2017-2023, the forecast for the global market for interactive baby monitors is positive, as a year-on-year growth of 12,3% is expected reaching a market value of €1,76B.

The sales of this SensoDream solution will generate a company growth that will benefit indirectly the regional growth where Ecus® is located (Region of Murcia) since it will be necessary to expand the workforce. All this will boost the regional, national and European economy increasingly consolidated in the sector of children's rest with technological innovations which benefit as well the health and the environment of children and adults apart from the economy.