| 34 new life-saving technologies for women and children were presented at Jugaad-a-thon |
CAMTech INDIA launched its first Jugaad-a-thon, bringing 250 clinicians, engineers and entrepreneurs together with the challenge of finding new solutions to pressing maternal and child health challenges in India. The event was co-organised by Glocal Healthcare, and hosted by GE’s John F. Welch Research Centre.
34 new potential solutions were presented to a panel of judges – ranging from new tools for antenatal care to disruptive technologies for newborn asphyxia.
“The energy and level of innovative thinking in this hack-a-thon surpassed any expectation we had,” said Elizabeth Bailey, Director of the Consortium for Affordable Medical Technologies (CAMTech) at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Center for Global Health. “Over these 48 hours, we saw clinical challenges drive innovative ideas, which then spawned new life-saving technologies for women and children in India. The Jugaad-a-thon was open innovation at its best.”
Judges awarded several prizes at the close of the Jugaad-a-thon, including:
- Top prize: Team “Baby Steps” received Rs 2,50,000 ($4,100) for developing a unique and integrated mobile app for early diagnosis of developmental delays in children across India
- First runner-up: Team “Pec Dia” received Rs 1,50,000 ($2,500) for developing a solution to diagnose Cephalopelvic Disproportion (CPD) in pregnancies after 37 weeks by any healthcare worker
- Second runner-up: Team “Pregmatic” received Rs 75,000 ($1,250) for the development of an affordable wearable device that reminds pregnant women about key milestones in pregnancy when they must see a medical professional.
All three of the cash prize winners also received three years of incubation support at the Mazumdar-Shaw Medical Center’s Healthcare Technology Incubator.
There were also prizes awarded by three corporate sponsors. Anheuser-Busch InBev championed the cause of road safety technologies for children. Covidien offered several clinical problems in need of innovation, including newborn asphyxia, fetal/ maternal monitoring and post partum hemorrhage. The Novartis Foundation challenged the Jugaad-a-thon participants to come up with new approaches to diagnosing leprosy. Each winning team will receive Rs 50,000 and ongoing support from the companies.
| Jugaad-a-thon winners received three years of incubation support at Mazumdar-Shaw Medical Center’s Healthcare Technology Incubator |
Additional prizes included in-kind support from Dayanda Sagar Institutions (incubation services), InnAccel (acceleration services), and the Wellcome Trust (fund-raising and grant writing mentorship).
The Jugaad-a-thon’s “48 hours of innovation” brought together a far-reaching and diverse group from healthcare delivery organisations across India, as well as academic institutions and large medical device companies.
Vikram Damodaran, Director, Healthcare Innovation, India, and GE Healthcare South Asia said, “We have seen several new creative ideas in just 48 hours that can change the way we look at reproductive, maternal and infant care. It is a completely new experience for us and we believe co-creation of solutions can accelerate affordable healthcare innovation. We are very pleased to have been part of this programme led by CAMTech INDIA. We hope to do more Jugaad-a-thons to promote open innovation and co-creation in healthcare industry.”