TIRED OF CANCER BV

Their core work

Tired of Cancer BV is a Dutch health-tech SME specializing in digital tools that help cancer patients manage the debilitating fatigue that often outlasts treatment. Their flagship work is mPOWER, a mobile platform giving patients structured support to regain energy and function in daily life. Beyond direct patient tools, they operate at the intersection of eHealth product development and the informal care ecosystem — the family members, caregivers, and community networks that bear most of the care burden outside clinical settings. They bring a rare combination of patient-facing technology and policy awareness, making them relevant to both product consortia and health system reform projects.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their first H2020 project (2017), Tired of Cancer was firmly focused on a specific clinical problem: cancer-related fatigue, addressed through a direct-to-patient mobile tool. By 2018 their second engagement shifted toward the broader informal care landscape — the unpaid caregivers, family members, and community supports that surround patients — with explicit interest in policy implications. This suggests a deliberate expansion from a single-condition product company toward a broader position in the digital care ecosystem, where clinical tools must fit within social, family, and regulatory contexts.

They appear to be moving from product builder to ecosystem player — expanding from a cancer-specific app toward the wider digital informal care and health policy space, which positions them well for future projects addressing caregiver burden, integrated care, or digital health regulation.

How they like to work

Tired of Cancer led mPOWER as coordinator — a significant responsibility for a small SME, indicating strong project management capability and willingness to own deliverables. In ENTWINE they contributed as a third party, likely as an industry voice in an academic training network rather than as a core research partner. This two-mode pattern (lead when it's their product domain, contribute when the topic is adjacent) suggests a pragmatic collaborator that picks its level of engagement based on relevance.

Across two projects they have connected with 26 unique consortium partners in 6 countries, a broad reach for a two-project SME. The ENTWINE network (MSCA-ITN) likely accounts for the majority of this breadth, as training networks typically span many European institutions.

What sets them apart

Tired of Cancer occupies an unusual niche: they are an SME that successfully won SME Instrument Phase 2 funding (highly competitive, less than 5% success rate), which signals that their mPOWER platform was assessed as commercially credible, not just scientifically interesting. Unlike academic groups working on eHealth, they bring a product mindset and market accountability that is rare in H2020 health consortia. For any consortium needing an industry partner who understands both the patient experience and the commercial path to market in oncology digital health, they are a strong fit.

Highlights from their portfolio

• mPOWER
  Coordinated as lead SME under the competitive SME Instrument Phase 2, receiving EUR 1.17M to develop a commercially viable mobile platform for cancer fatigue — one of the most underfunded quality-of-life issues in oncology.
• ENTWINE
  Participation in a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network signals credibility as an industry training partner, and extended their network into the informal care research community across multiple European countries.