SCOTTISH tech businesses are being asked to pitch ideas to improve healthcare delivery.
The project involves Scotland 5G Centre partnering with Scottish Care and Dumfries and Galloway Health and Social Care Partnership.
SMEs and technology entrepreneurs are invited to share their ideas to address challenges in the health sector.
The ‘Shaping Digital Health & Social Care’ Innovation Challenge will support three projects to improve healthcare delivery, by giving the selected companies the 5G know how to make their solution market ready.
The challenge invites businesses to respond to real problems and bring their solutions, enabled by 5G, to meet patient and care provider needs accurately, efficiently, conveniently, cost effectively and at scale.
Companies entering are required to highlight a solution that addresses one of the following challenges:
• Enhance and develop digital access to health and care services across the region, particularly in rural areas;
• Digital ideas to help support people to manage their own conditions and care for themselves safely at home; and
• Connectivity solutions that enable information to be shared with people and others involved in patients’ care safely and efficiently.
The winning companies will get access to the challenge owners’ expertise and insider knowledge throughout the accelerator programme, with support also committed post programme to bring the solution closer to market integration.
The ‘call’ is open to SMEs across Scotland and the UK who currently have a healthcare product or service in development or already on the market but requires additional digital capacity to meet a need or improve performance.
Entrants also need to show they are committed to the programme and can ensure team members can attend the required sessions.
There is a £1000 travel and subsistence budget available to each winning company to support these costs.
The S5GConnect innovation programme offers a comprehensive package of support for the successful companies.
Lara Moloney, Head of S5GConnect, said: “Private 5G networks offer organisations a new way to deliver services.
“This innovation challenge focuses on how we can support independent living and care to ease the burden on the NHS and Care Providers.
“Collectively we are offering a real opportunity to businesses who can solve these difficult problems and that can be enhanced through advanced connectivity.”
David Rowland, Director of Strategic Planning and Transformation, Dumfries and Galloway Health and Social Care Partnership, said: ““This Innovation Challenge offers a fantastic opportunity for our partnership to forge the new alliances necessary to explore innovative and creative solutions to some of our key challenges.”
Nicola Cooper, Technology and Digital Innovation Lead, Scottish Care, said: “This is a terrific opportunity to do something of real value for people who access, or work in health and social care through delivering new solutions enabled by advanced connectivity at a time when we need it most.”
More information can be found at https://scotland5gcentre.org/
