Accenture has announced the creation of the Accenture HealthTech Innovation Challenge, which aims to bring together startup firms and prominent life sciences and health companies to address challenges including access, affordability, transparency and security.
The challenge is part of the research and consulting firm’s broader HealthTech Innovation program. In the challenge, startups from around the globe can compete to bring innovative technology and creative solutions forward to improve the way people access and manage healthcare. Accenture will select finalists who then will present their efforts to a panel of judges, comprised of senior executives from globally recognized life sciences and health companies. Through this process, entrants will gain exposure and access to these top companies to help bring their ideas to market.
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Two initial pitching sessions will take place in London on November 25, 2016, and New York on December 1, 2016. Selected startups will be invited to pitch to an exclusive panel of judges that includes senior executives from AmerisourceBergen, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bupa, Cardinal Health, Novartis, UCB, and others.
The final judging round will take place at the StartUp Health Festival in San Francisco during the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference January 9, 2017. Accenture is the lead innovation partner at the festival, which brings together more than 1,000 healthcare innovators and investors. The top entrants in each category will gain exposure and access to leading companies in their target market or therapeutic area, Accenture said.
“Digital disruption is fundamentally changing the life sciences and health industries, and new digital players from within and outside the ecosystem have the potential to make a significant impact to the way the world approaches healthcare,” said Anne O’Riordan, senior managing director of Accenture Life Sciences. “With all the activity in the startup space, many established healthcare organizations are asking how do they decide which innovators can help them best deliver patient care. With the launch of the Accenture HealthTech Innovation Challenge, Accenture will identify emerging innovators and disruptors and act as a catalyst by connecting them with the companies that can fast-track market impact.”
The challenge include four categories: making access to care easier for remote and underserved populations, supporting care plan adherence with real-world evidence or data sources to improve outcomes, enabling consumers to get the right information and services at the right time for optimizing care, and enabling health information sharing in a private and secure manner.
“We forecast that start-up funding for digital healthcare, such as wearables and virtual health, will reach $6.5 billion by the end of next year,” said Brian Kalis, managing director of digital health at Accenture. “This growth continues to be fueled by open innovation between startups and a broad spectrum of stakeholders with the same shared goal of advancing healthcare.”
Startups can enter on Accenture’s web site through October 21, 2016.
