May 18, 2026 · Testimonial
How a start-up is addressing the shortage of skilled professionals in healthcare
The shortage of skilled professionals in the healthcare sector is increasing, raising the question of how medical knowledge can be delivered efficiently in the future. With the Swiss start-up Meta Hospital, founder Laraine Redmond and her team are focusing on evidence-based XR training to provide faster, more flexible, and practice-oriented education for healthcare professionals. In recognition of this vision, Meta Hospital was awarded the cluster prize and the UBS audience award at the Talent Pitch Switzerland 2026.
Laraine Redmond, founder of Meta Hospital, and her team have developed an XR training platform for the healthcare sector. The aim is to make medical expertise scalable, practical, and available at any time. In the interview, she discusses winning the Talent Pitch Switzerland 2026, the shortage of skilled professionals in the healthcare sector, and the vision behind Meta Hospital.
Laraine, congratulations on winning the Talent Pitch Switzerland 2026! What went through your mind after your victory?
Thank you very much! I feel fantastic. I am extremely proud of everyone who has supported and helped to develop Meta Hospital up to this point.
Many people who are important to me – family, friends, collaborators, mentors and core team members – were present in person or followed the event via livestream. This gave me a great deal of motivation during the pitch.
We are delighted to have won the cluster award, which was presented by the jury comprising Andrew Reid, Antonia Albert, Bea Knecht, Jan Lederhausen and Thomas Dübendorfer. We are especially pleased to have received the UBS Audience Award, which means a great deal to us.
What does this victory actually change?
For me personally, winning is a great affirmation. It shows me that I have successfully mastered another challenge and that we are on the right track with Meta Hospital. That is a very good feeling.
For Meta Hospital, winning primarily means increased visibility and valuable new contacts. It represents another significant step towards finding the right investors and partners for our venture.
What does Meta Hospital do?
At Meta Hospital, learners and healthcare professionals train in relevant workflows for their daily professional practice. We translate expert knowledge into evidence-based workflows. These can be practised step by step using an XR headset – independent of location and time and without the need for a teacher to be present during training.
Compared to traditional training, participants using the Meta Hospital Method learn more quickly, perform better afterwards, acquire greater knowledge, and are even able to reduce their stress levels during the training.
Why does the healthcare sector need Meta Hospital right now?
The European Commission and the WHO warn of a serious shortage in healthcare provision across Europe. By 2030, Europe will face a shortfall of around one million healthcare professionals. At the same time, nearly 25 per cent of the current healthcare workforce will be retiring within a similar timeframe. This affects not only patient care, but also education and training. Expert knowledge is leaving the system more quickly than it can be replaced through further training.
This is precisely where Meta Hospital comes in. Together with educational and healthcare institutions, we translate expert knowledge into immersive, evidence-based training programmes. These are available at any time, reduce the burden on trainers, and can be delivered at a fraction of the cost of traditional training.
How did the idea for Meta Hospital come about?
Meta Hospital was developed based on our experience with XR training at Pixelmolkerei AG. Together with Imperial College London and Prof. Dr. Kartik Logishetty, we were able to demonstrate that XR training achieves significantly stronger results compared to traditional learning methods. Until now, such training has primarily been developed for surgical applications. At the same time, we recognise that, in a hospital, quality depends not only on a single professional group, but on the collaboration of many specialists. This is precisely how Meta Hospital came into being.
We aim to make evidence-based XR training accessible to a range of healthcare professions – practical, scalable, and directly aligned with real workplace processes.
The name combines «Meta», referring to immersive, three-dimensional learning environments, with «Hospital» as a place where many healthcare professions come together. «Train like a Pro» means that learners train using a system based on expert knowledge from professional practice.
Which feedback from the pitching process was particularly helpful to you and will you take forward for the future?
Every piece of feedback was helpful – regardless of who it came from. It sharpened the pitch linguistically, in terms of content, and visually. I learned to communicate even more clearly which problem we are solving, why now is the right time, and what potential Meta Hospital has. For the future, I have realised that a good pitch is never finished. It becomes more precise with every conversation.
How did your time at HWZ prepare you for your entrepreneurial journey?
My entrepreneurial career was for a long time shaped largely by learning by doing. Over many years, I have worked in a variety of fields – from marketing and sales to product development, as well as human resources and business development.
HWZ is helping me today to structure this experiential knowledge and to develop it further in a targeted way. It confirms much of what I have previously done intuitively and provides me with tools for the next stages of growth.
In particular, the CAS Women Leading Digital HWZ gave me the confidence to continue pursuing my path as an entrepreneur with determination. It feels like a desert plant finally receiving water: now begins the phase in which much that has been growing for a long time becomes visible.
How much of the victory was down to luck, and how much was due to chance?
A good pitch is no coincidence. It is the result of thorough preparation, honest feedback, and a willingness to continually refine your business.
When I decided at the beginning of the year to bring investors on board, it was clear to me that I needed not only capital, but also a better understanding of how investors think. That is precisely why I chose theCAS Entrepreneurshipat HWZ. The programme is highly practice-oriented and focused on building a business. Through our collaboration with the Swiss Startup Association, we gain access to leading figures from the Swiss start-up scene and to hands-on coaching.
In this environment, I was able to make significant progress with my pitch. Winning is certainly partly a matter of luck at the right moment – but above all, it comes down to preparation, focus, and having the right network.
What are your next steps after the competition? Where do you see Meta Hospital in the next three to five years?
Our next step is to develop Meta Hospital as a scalable training platform for healthcare institutions across Europe. To achieve this, we are seeking an investment of 5 million as well as investors who understand the healthcare sector and wish to work with us to establish a new standard for evidence-based XR training.
Over the next three to five years, we aim to acquire more than 60 institutions as clients with recurring annual licences. At the same time, we are expanding our training portfolio to cover additional healthcare professions and relevant workflows.
In the long term, we aim to offer Meta Hospital XR training certificates for users and to establish Meta Hospital as a quality label for evidence-based procedures in healthcare.
Our network of experts is continually growing. Step by step, this is giving rise to a Meta Hospital Community that brings together an increasing number of professionals. I also have a portfolio of further ideas. New products and services can be developed around the expanding community and its network. Our aim is to foster stronger connections among people working in healthcare.
What advice would you give to others who wish to put their own business idea into practice?
I have a straightforward three-point plan:
Do it. Get started. Not making a decision is also a decision.
Be bold and stay agile. The real enjoyment begins when you step outside your comfort zone and overcome your inner obstacles.
Only make compromises when they feel right. Joy feels light and good. This very feeling is an important compass.
Thank you very much, dear Laraine, for your openness and the interview. Once again, heartfelt congratulations and continued success with Meta Hospital.
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