Digital innovation in the healthcare sector

The Digital Innovation Contest 2013 promotes and supports digital innovation across a variety of sectors. Within healthcare, it aims to promote good practice across the healthcare professions and improve patient engagement and health.

As a partner, BMJ will help fund four UK-based businesses to develop digital prototypes that address some of the key challenges facing healthcare today.

These include:

• Using data to help healthcare organisations share information, reduce duplication of effort and improve outcomes
• Adapting clinical content for the developing world, while still maintaining quality
• Creating games to deliver relevant and engaging health information to patients, while overcoming language and reading age barriers

The deadline for applications is 5th June. Finalists will pitch their ideas to a panel of judges and the winners will trial their proposed solution with BMJ for a minimum of three months.

Sharon Cooper, Chief Technology Officer at BMJ explains: “The challenges that health professionals, providers and health systems face today to provide high quality care within finite resources has never been greater, and as technology and the needs of the medical community have changed, we have responded. By setting this competition, we hope to facilitate an innovative approach to healthcare, seeking to harness the best in UK software development to bring a fresh look to how technology can transform the delivery of healthcare worldwide.”

Matt Sansam, IC tomorrow’s programme manager, adds: “We live in a connected world where technology areas that have not traditionally interacted are increasingly seeing – and realising – opportunities for new products and services. This latest competition seeks to encourage some of our smallest and newest businesses to come up with new and innovative ideas to tackle issues faced by the healthcare sector, one of the largest markets in the country.”