From ETH to MYNERVA, the Italian-Icelandic founder's Leia sock connects neural stimulation, patients, and access to neuropathy care.

Italo-Icelandic, formed between neuroscience, neuroengineering and applied research, Greta Preatoni he transformed a scientific question on the artificial touch in a MedTech startup born to address one of the most disabling complications of neuropathy. The story of MYNERVA does not arise from an abstract exercise in technology, but from a progressive encounter with the clinical problem. During the PhD atETH in Zurich, Greta works on the neural stimulation and on the possibility of returning a form of artificial sensitivity.

From that first prototype, still experimental but already promising, the intuition took shape that a technology developed in the context of neuroengineering could respond to a much broader need: helping patients affected by neuropathy, loss of sensation e chronic pain, conditions that affect not only health, but also daily autonomy, mobility and the perception of body safety.

In this trajectory, the personal data is as important as the technological one. Preatoni in fact tells of a non-linear passage: from scientific curiosity to entrepreneurial responsibility, from the laboratory to the construction of a medical company, from the fascination with technology to the awareness that the true center of the work is not the device itself, but the patient. His most significant sentence is perhaps precisely this: one must not fall in love with the technology that is developing, but with the problem you want to solve. It is a rare posture in the deep tech, because it moves innovation from the field of invention to that ofclinical, regulatory and social impact.

MYNERVA was therefore born as a spin-off of the Swiss research, but it grows within a broader dimension: that of a new generation of European founders capable of uniting scientific rigor, attention to the market, dialogue with patients and understanding of healthcare systems. The device Read, developed by the startup, is placed in this frontier: a sensorial and adaptive technology designed to contribute to the neuropathy treatment and to fit in, over time, with personalized care pathways, based on continuous data and on wearable solutions. It's not just a promise of digital health, but also a test bed to understand how complex it is to bring a medical innovation from the prototype to the refundability, from clinical validation tolarge-scale adoption.

In the chat with Innovando.News, Greta Preatoni speaks with the language of those who have already crossed the paradigm shift between academia and businessThe product must be safe, the team must integrate technical, regulatory, commercial and reimbursement skills, the strategy must be built from the outset by combining clinical evidence, payer needs, and actual patient access. This is where the personal story also becomes a reading of the ecosystem: the Switzerland as a favorable environment for deep tech startups, theEurope as a still fragmented space of opportunity, theItaly as a country rich in talent but called to build more solid conditions to retain researchers, engineers and young entrepreneurs.

The result is a dialogue that goes beyond the single technology. Through MYNERVA, the Italian-Icelandic CEO in fact talks about a crucial issue for the future of digital health: how to turn a scientific discovery into a accessible clinical solution, how to make a highly technological device human and how to ensure that innovation does not remain confined to laboratories, but really reaches the people's lives.

Can you tell us how the idea for MYNERVA was born and what specific clinical problem you decided to address with your MedTech device?

The idea was born during my PhD at ETH Zurich. Our expertise was in using neural stimulation to restore an artificial sense of touch, and it was in that context that we developed an initial prototype, still very primitive, which nevertheless yielded extraordinary results, findings we later published in Nature Communications. From there, the intuition was born that this technology could address a much broader clinical need. In 2023, MYNERVA became a reality: the purely research phase concluded and the entrepreneurial phase began. We received support from the Wyss Zurich Translational Center and began developing the device as a true medical company, with the aim of addressing the problem of neuropathy and the chronic pain that comes with it.

How did your neuroengineering research experience influence the startup's vision and technological development?

My training in neuroengineering has given me a solid scientific foundation for product development, but above all, it has allowed me to engage directly with patients, listen to their problems, and understand what it's really like to live with neuropathy. I believe this is the most important lesson I've brought with me to the company: you shouldn't fall in love with the technology you're developing, but with the problem you're trying to solve. Technology itself is not a product, and listening to the end user—the patient, the clinician—is crucial. This is what guides our development decisions every day.

What were the main challenges you encountered in the transition from academia to business, and how did you address them as a team?

The term 'team' is exactly right. One of the biggest challenges in moving from academia to business is changing your mindset: in research, you tend to endlessly refine the technology you developed during your PhD, but in a company, that technology is just a grain of sand compared to everything else. The team, the commercial strategy, the regulatory strategy, the reimbursement strategy: these are the things that, if right, determine success. The product must be safe, first and foremost, and then it can continue to improve and be enriched with new features over time. To address this shift in perspective, we immediately brought people with experience outside of academia, with more commercial and industrial expertise, into the team. It's this mix that has allowed us to build a company, and not just a sprawling laboratory.

Has being included among the young international innovation leaders had a concrete impact on MYNERVA's growth path?

"Yes, the impact has been tangible on multiple levels. It certainly brought visibility, but above all, it opened important doors for us: new knowledge, opportunities to network with other entrepreneurs and investors, and a credibility that for a deep tech startup, especially in the early stages, is gold. When you introduce yourself to a clinical partner, an investor, or a regulatory authority, international recognition helps break down that natural mistrust that exists towards a young company proposing a new technology. It builds trust, and in a long and complex sector like MedTech, trust is a precious currency."

How do you balance technological innovation with clinical, ethical, and regulatory needs in a sensitive sector like MedTech?

It's one of the most difficult parts of our job. Being in a highly regulated market means there are so many variables to consider, and even a seemingly small change to the product can take months, if not years, to be approved. For a startup burning through cash without yet generating revenue, this is a huge obstacle. The solution, however complex, is to learn to connect the dots between all the areas right from the start. You can't define the regulatory strategy first, then the reimbursement strategy, and then the clinical strategy as if they were watertight compartments: they're all deeply interconnected and must be designed together, right from the start. Otherwise, you risk investing time and energy in one area that ends up being completely misaligned with another, and in a startup, that's a luxury you can't afford.

What skills do you consider essential today to transform advanced scientific research into a truly marketable product?

In the world of medical devices, it's essential to have a team with expertise in marketing, reimbursement, quality, and regulatory matters. The technical team remains crucial, of course, but a startup must ask itself a clear question from the outset: what is the essence of our company? What are the skills that truly distinguish us from the rest? Once we've given an honest answer to this question, we hire the talent needed for those core competencies and outsource everything else. It's a choice that requires discipline, but it's what allows a deep tech startup to stay focused, lean, and fast: three characteristics that, in this sector, are often the difference between reaching market and stopping halfway.

Looking to the medium to long term, what strategic opportunities do you see for MYNERVA and what obstacles do you consider the most complex to overcome?

Looking to the medium to long term, I believe the challenge—but also the greatest opportunity—is the commercialization phase, and specifically, streamlining the reimbursement process by health insurance providers. This is a difficult step, as each healthcare system has different logic, timelines, and evidence criteria, but it's also extremely exciting: when a device becomes part of reimbursed care pathways, it truly reaches patients on a large scale, and this is what gives meaning to all this work. The most complex obstacle will be translating our clinical evidence into a language that payers recognize as sound, country by country, building a strategy that is global in vision but precise in execution for each market. Fortunately, we've already made a lot of progress on this front, so we can't wait to implement our entire strategy.

How important is the innovation ecosystem in supporting a deep tech startup, and what differences have you found between national and European contexts?

It matters a great deal. MYNERVA is based in Switzerland, and I must say that there's a truly extraordinary ecosystem here, especially for early-stage startups: structured support, access to expertise, patient capital, and a tangible connection between academia and industry. Even at the European level, there are many support tools and programs, and there's a growing awareness of the strategic importance of deep tech. In Italy, I'm starting to see a clear change, and I truly hope so, because it's a shame to continue seeing brilliant minds—researchers, young founders, engineers—go abroad to find a more favorable ecosystem. The talent is there, and in abundance; what we need is to continue building the conditions around that talent to stay and grow.

What role do artificial intelligence and sensory technologies play today in developing effective solutions for the treatment of neuropathy?

"As in all sectors, artificial intelligence is now indispensable in ours too. It has become part of everyday life, and those who don't adapt are quickly left behind. We use it across the company and are building an internal infrastructure to optimize processes, from data analysis to operational management."

What is the long-term vision that guides MYNERVA and how do you envision the evolution of digital health technologies in the coming years?

“MYNERVA is a company with immense potential, for several reasons: the talent we have built internally, a technology that, in its complex simplicity, addresses a problem that remains completely unsolved today, and the enormous market we operate in. Neuropathy is estimated to affect approximately 7 percent of the world's population, with serious consequences: ulcers, amputations, and chronic, debilitating pain. Our mission is to help hundreds of millions of patients worldwide thanks to Leia, the technology we have developed. It is both our greatest source of pride and our dream. Looking to the broader future of digital health, I believe we will increasingly move toward personalized therapies, based on continuous data and devices capable of adapting in real time to the individual patient: a very different model from traditional medicine, in which the device is not just a tool but becomes an integral part of the treatment pathway.”

Smart socks that relieve pain in ETH story

Greta Preatoni interviewed by the Italian Cultural Institute in Zurich

Here are three insights that might interest you:

ETH Sensory Prosthetics: The Technology That Restores Sensitivity to Diabetics
This is how Swiss research is preparing its future structure
3D printed insoles to sense forces exerted in shoes