During Zorg & ict, the ActiZ-VGN-WDTM Innovation Award will be presented for the third time. This award now covers three domains: care for the disabled, home care and elderly care. You can register until 14 March
Stimulating startups and accelerating innovation and care innovation. That has always been the goal of the ActiZ-WDTM Innovation Award. Starting this year, at the third edition, Vereniging Gehandicaptenzorg Nederland (VGN) has also joined in. "With this, we now cover three domains," says Tonko Wedda (WDTM) on behalf of the three organizing parties.
Disability Care
Initially, the prize was primarily a competition for innovative solutions for the care of the elderly and chronically ill. Now the Innovation Prize also covers the field of disability care. "We have shifted the scope somewhat. This is because we see that the interchangeability of innovations developed in home and elderly care on the one hand and disability care on the other is high. And the same applies vice versa."
Not only is there a great need for innovations, according to Wedda. There is also a need to scale up innovations better and faster. This is where the ActiZ-VGN-WDTM Innovation Award wants to play a driving role. "We are really looking for innovations that are still in the stage before scaling up. In other words, the startups and not the scale-ups. There are a lot of initiatives that are struggling or not getting off the ground. This often has to do with the fact that such a startup is set up by people from outside the healthcare industry. And those people are unfamiliar with how healthcare works, unfamiliar with what is or is not reimbursed, for example."
Comprehensive support
The winners of the ActiZ-VGN-WDTM Innovation Award do not receive a cash prize, but they do receive extensive support for a number of months. This is done by a broadly composed team. "It's about investment knowledge or knowledge about costing in healthcare. And if there is a desire to come to the table with administrators, we arrange to speak with a number of healthcare administrators. In short, everything a startup needs."
Previous winners of the Innovation Award have reaped the benefits, Wedda says. "We set out to increase the visibility of the application that wins the prize, as well as the finalists. TONOS care, winner of the first edition, was fairly unknown. After winning the prize, doors opened. Not only in care, but also other doors. Last year's winner, Attendi, also developed quite a bit. Winning the prize led, among other things, to their inclusion on DigiZo.nu 's healthcare transformation agenda."
Long-term care
With the Innovation Award, the initiators want to give healthcare innovation a considerable boost. Because that is badly needed, says Wedda. "We are really focusing on long-term care. Scaling up is much slower there than elsewhere in healthcare."
Last year, there were 22 entries. Wedda hopes there will be more again this year. He notices that, in general, there are very few innovations that are initiated by people from within the healthcare industry. "But I think it's essential that more will be put forward from 'within,'" he said.
"That doesn't have to be immediately translated into applications. If you just start naming bottlenecks, the things you find annoying, recurring heavy work, what do you want to get rid of? You could very well name that from healthcare and translate it into a question and transfer that to business."
The purpose of the Innovation Award is to give both nominees and winners a considerable boost, Wedda says. "That's really what drives us. That's how we want to make a difference. If we can no longer make that difference because care is so well organized that scaling up is very fast, yes, we will stop. But I fear that will take some time."
Sign up
Do you have an innovative solution for the future of care, one that is already being used in elder care and/or disability care and can be used with both target groups? Then register your startup now for the pitch competition. Send in your pitch presentation, answer the questionnaire and have a chance to be invited to hold your pitch live on the main stage during Zorg & ict. An expert jury coming from healthcare governance, finance and business will judge the pitches and announce the winning start-up. You can register until March 14.
