NICO-LAB BV

Their core work

Nico-Lab is a small Dutch medtech company building automated software for neurovascular brain imaging analysis, with a clinical focus on stroke and cerebral ischemia. Their core work involves extracting quantitative diagnostic information from brain scans — reducing the need for manual measurement by radiologists and neurologists. Over time they have shifted from classical image processing toward machine learning-based detection, positioning their software closer to clinical decision-support. As an SME, they operate as an independent R&D-driven product company using EU feasibility grants to validate their diagnostic tools on the path to market.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In 2016, Nico-Lab's work was framed around image quantification — measuring and analyzing neurovascular structure from scans, a classical computer vision problem. By 2020, their language had shifted to machine learning, artificial intelligence, and clinical stroke detection, signalling a move from measurement tools toward AI-powered diagnostic classifiers. The trajectory is consistent and purposeful: the same clinical domain (neurovascular, stroke), but progressively more sophisticated methods and a closer orientation toward clinical deployment.

Nico-Lab is on a clear path from research-grade imaging tools toward clinical AI diagnostics for stroke — future collaborations will likely involve hospital pilots, medtech validation consortia, or regulatory pathway work for CE-marked software.

How they like to work

Nico-Lab has coordinated both of their H2020 projects as a solo applicant — a pattern typical of SME Instrument Phase 1 grants, which are designed for single companies testing a business idea. This means they have no recorded consortium partners and have not yet operated inside a multi-partner research network. A future collaborator should expect a focused, self-directed SME that would enter a consortium to deliver a specific diagnostic AI component rather than to co-define the scientific agenda.

Nico-Lab has no recorded consortium partners across both H2020 projects, a direct result of the single-company SME Instrument grant structure they used. Their collaborative footprint in the broader EU research ecosystem has not yet developed.

What sets them apart

Nico-Lab occupies a narrow and well-defined niche: commercial AI software for automated stroke and cerebral ischemia diagnosis, developed by a product-oriented SME rather than an academic group. Unlike university teams researching the same problem, they are building toward a deployable product with a business model, which makes them a credible industry partner for clinical AI consortia. For any consortium needing a validated neuro-imaging AI component with a Dutch SME to fill the industry partner slot, they represent a focused option with domain depth that a general-purpose AI company would not offer.

Highlights from their portfolio

• DECIMAL
  Their largest and most advanced grant (EUR 137,748), applying machine learning to cerebral ischemia detection — a high-value clinical problem with strong commercial demand across European hospital systems.
• ANIMATION
  The foundational project that established their neurovascular imaging focus and secured the first EU validation of their quantification technology concept.