After receiving a pacemaker, 20% of patients will develop heart failure as a direct result of the artificial stimulations pacemakers provide. However, there is currently no way for cardiologists to predict whether a patient will be one of these 20% until symptoms are already present. Pace Locator aims to solve this issue by providing cardiologists with a tool that identifies the underlying cause of pacing induced heart failure before it’s too late. Pace Locator is developing software that turns 12-lead ECG into a visual guide of how well the left and right sides of the heart beat in sync – a major predictor of whether the patient is at risk for pacing induced heart failure. Our goal is to enable more effective treatment for pacemaker patients and to reduce the long-term burden of the disease.

In the first phase of the InnoBooster project, we integrated machine-learning algorithms to help identify pathological ECG patterns, which improved both the speed and the accuracy of our existing software. We also built an MVP user-interface, which was tested as part of a market validation study supported by an Innosuisse Innovation Cheque, where 15 clinicians gave feedback on the product. The BFH spin-off resulting from the project, Augury Medical, was also recognized as one of the Venture Leaders Medtech 2025, where they spent a week showcasing the project to key players in the Boston MedTech ecosystem.
In the next stage, we will focus on the continued development of the user interface to prepare for testing the software in the clinical environment, through both usability studies and clinical trials. We will also introduce patient-specific anatomical models into the software to further improve diagnostic accuracy.