A life-saving project has taken shape as the University of Glasgow’s first not-for-profit social enterprise spinout. KEPsoft Collaborative, born from the work of four European research institutions, plans to boost the odds for kidney patients to find life-changing matches with living donors. The venture sprang from the joint work of the University of Glasgow, INESC TEC in Portugal, the Budapest-based HUN-REN Centre for Economic and Regional Studies (KRTK), and Óbuda University.

The new company offers a software platform that helps connect those in need with transplant options. The plan has already been used by national groups running kidney exchange programmes to tie donors to recipients. In the United Kingdom, algorithms devised by Professor David Manlove and colleagues steered the UK Living Kidney Sharing Scheme, Europe’s largest of its kind. Reports estimate that between 2008 and 2024, these plans paved the way for around 600 extra kidney transplants compared to earlier methods.

Short-term plans center on transplant groups in Europe, yet many lands lack such donor-swap schemes. With an estimated 850 million people worldwide facing kidney problems, KEPsoft Collaborative aims to shed light on a grave need.

A new project called EURO-KEP is set to back national and international kidney exchange programmes in Europe. The endeavour, led by the Organización Nacional de Trasplantes (Spanish National Transplant Organisation) and co-backed under the EU4Health programme, will further shape the KEPsoft platform. The project team has earned praise with a prize from the Converge Create Change Challenge in 2024.

Vijay Luthra, CEO of KEPsoft Collaborative and a renal transplant recipient, said: “The social enterprise model allows us to focus on the needs of the most important stakeholders, namely kidney patients waiting for a transplant. It also recognises the collaborative nature of the work, including by our founding members. Our goal is to make kidney transplantation more accessible to patients around Europe and beyond, and to that end we are most grateful for the financial and operational support provided by The Challenges Group Ventures Lab and by Community Enterprise in Scotland (CEIS).”

Professor David Manlove, Scientific Adviser to KEPsoft Collaborative at the University of Glasgow, said: “Beyond the founding institutions, the project has enjoyed wide collaboration including the ENCKEP COST Action (funded by the European Union) which had 28 participating countries. KEPsoft has also had input from stakeholders from a range of disciplines, including policy makers, clinicians, surgeons, nephrologists, immunologists, computer scientists and economists.”

University of Glasgow Head of Commercialisation Mel Anderson said: “The KEPsoft software platform has the potential to transform lives by significantly improving the number of kidney transplants through optimising donor-to-patient matching. With its partner universities in Portugal and Hungary, the University of Glasgow has created KEPsoft Collaborative, a not-for-profit social enterprise to drive deployment and adoption of this important platform. This is the first of the University’s not for profit social enterprise ventures aimed at delivering social good from research-led innovation. We wish the KEPsoft team every success.”

This fresh venture stands as a firm effort to ease the harsh toll of kidney failure and to mend lives with smart, well-aimed donor matching.