The European Telemedicine’s Young Innovators Competition 2018, an international contest that focuses on creating new ideas in the fields of eHealth and telemedicine, will be held on May 28 in Sitges.
The competition focuses on new solutions for future health using information and communication technologies with respect to health challenges.
The solutions presented for the competition can be anything in the field of homecare and telemedicine tools, patient empowerment and communication, health information support systems, administrative support systems, teaching solutions and solutions for treatment and care.
To participate, those young entrepreneurs looking to expand their bounderies in the fields eHealth and telemedicine have until April 22 to send in an application describing an innovative solution to a problem they have discovered in those fields.
The three best applications will then be chosen to pitch their ideas at the competition on May 28, where they will be judged and given 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place.
Prospective participents must meet the following criteria:
- All participants must be less than 30 years old at 1st of January 2018.
- The innovation team can participate regardless the idea’s stage of development
- Companies may also participate provided they have been launched within the last 2 years from 1st of January 2018
- If the idea is presented by a commercial company the company cannot have had an income of over 500,000 € in the last 12 months
- If the idea is presented by a research group, or a member of a research group, the supervisor does not have to fulfill the age criteria
- Each team must indicate a project leader and an e-mail address to receive all communications from the ETC YIC 2018 organisers. The ETC YIC Committee reserves the right to exclude ideas deemed not consistent with the objectives and spirit of the initiative.
The Young Innovators Competition is a chance for young talent to shine through in the field of telemedicine. Winners will receive free conference admission to either HIMSS19 (USA) or Health 2.0 Fall 18 or HIMSS Europe/Health 2.0 Europe 19.
Each winner will also receive free training in how to create a successful business model.
The stated purpose of the European Telemedicine’s Young Innovators Competition is to “create a forum where key players in the field of telemedicine (also known as telehealth and telecare) share knowledge and best practices and initiate new fields of collaboration,” according to the call for participants.
Telemedicine, described as “the remote diagnosis and treatment of patients by means of telecommunications technology,” has been a rapidly growing field of medicine over the last couple decades.
According to Chiron Health, telemedicine has numerous benefits for the patient and provider alike. For the patient, this includes less time away from home, no travel expenses or time, less interference with childcare responsibilites, privacy, and no exposure to potentially contagious fellow patients.
For the provider, these include, improved office efficiency, better patient follow through and improved health outcomes, fewer missed appointments and cancellations, and private payer reimbursement.
Many telemedicine companies “offer patients 24/7 access to medical care with an on-call doctor contracted by that company. Others offer hospitals and larger health centers access to extra clinical staff and specialists, for outsourcing of special cases. Still others provide a telemedicine platform for physicians to use to offer virtual visits with their own patients.
Increasingly, telemedicine is becoming a way to give medical practices an edge in a competitive healthcare landscape where it’s difficult to stay independent or maintain a healthy bottom line.”
