Innovations for Health: Solutions that Cross Borders Contest

Deadline: 13 February 2012
Open to: All individuals, teams, and organizations(public or private entities)
Prizes: Three winners selected by a panel of expert judges will each receive a cash prize of US $10,000.

Description

Countries throughout the world are seeking to improve the health of their citizens and make quality health care accessible and affordable. Despite their differences, nations are facing a surprisingly similar set of health care challenges, such as fragmented health care ecosystems, high costs, inconsistent quality of care, inefficient systems, and barriers to access and capacity needs. In response to these challenges, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Pioneer Portfolio is partnering with Ashoka Changemakers to launch the competition, Innovations for Health: Solutions that Cross Borders.

Entries are invited from around the world in the form of innovative health care solutions having potential to improve health care situation in other countries and regions. You can either submit the solution or nominate a project. The organizers are especially looking for the entries that have displayed positive impact in helping populations at risk.

Contest description

This global competition welcomes entries that:

• Reflect the theme of the challenge: Innovations for Health: Solutions that Cross Borders. The aim of the competition is to identify health care innovations that have the potential to be adapted and applied in different countries experiencing similar barriers to health.
• Have a proven success on some level, with the potential to scale; or indicate a path for growth beyond the conceptual stage and have already demonstrated impact and sustainability.
• Are submitted in English, French, Spanish, or Portuguese.

The winning entries will best meet the following criteria:

Innovation: This is the knock-out test. Does the innovation clearly reflect the ability to systemically transform health and health care by focusing on greater simplicity, lower cost, easier access, higher quality, efficiency, or enhanced convenience of services to more empowered and informed consumers? Your entry should describe a new approach to solving a particular problem. The innovation should be a unique model of change that demonstrates a substantial difference from other initiatives in the field.Innovations for Health especially seeks solutions that can be applied in other countries to improve health and health care. Innovation is spurred by different income levels, infrastructure, and local health marketplaces, allowing countries to skip over phases of technological development and to evolve improved delivery models, more holistic service ecosystems, and creative add-on applications. We seek innovative answers to global challenges.

Social Impact: The competition is looking for breakthrough innovations that have the potential to catalyse exponential change in health and health care. Some innovations will have proven success at a small level, while others may have already engaged millions of people in communities around the world

Sustainability: For an innovation to be truly effective, it must have both a model of sustainable impact and a viable organization. Innovations will be judged on their long-term vision for increasing impact and creating lasting change. Entrants should describe the current environment in which they are operating and the challenges and opportunities present within it. The most successful entrants go beyond discussing whether or not they will charge for services and describe a business plan. They also demonstrate that they have strong partnerships and support networks to address an on-going need, and to aid in scalability and the maintenance of a clear financial strategy.

To display some tips to create a good project plan, please click here.

Eligibility

Innovations for Health: Solutions that Cross Borders is open to all individuals, teams, and organizations (public or private entities).

Prizes

• One of three US $10,000 cash prizes in unrestricted funding to boost your project.
• One of two US $500 cash prizes in addition to a private consulting session with industry experts (if you enter before December 12, 2011 and are chosen as one of the two early entry prize winners).

How to apply?

In order to apply successfully, please click here to see the video containing the application procedure. You can also download the step-by-step guideline for the application here. Online competition submissions are accepted until 5PM EST on February 13, 2012. At any time before this deadline, competition participants are encouraged to revise their entries based on questions and insights that they receive independently or via public comments on the Changemakers online forum. Online participation provides the community and the judges an opportunity to understand the entrant’s project more completely.

To download a Word version of the entry form, click here.

Contacts

In case of any further question, please click here and fill in the inquiry form.

Ashoka Global Headquarters | Changemakers
1700 North Moore Street, Suite 2000 (20th Floor)
Arlington, VA 22209, USA
connect@changemakers.com

The Official Website