Earlier this year, our friends at the mHealth Alliance launched a competition for mHealth entrepreneurs who are developing mobile phone technology to service the health needs in some of the most remote, hard to reach places on earth. The finalists have been narrowed down to 11 people/companies/non-profits that are doing extraordinarily cutting edge work at the intersection of health and mobile technology.
The Top 11 Innovators for 2011 competetition is now open to voting for the public. You can learn about the various projects at Health Unbound and cast your vote. Here’s the full release.
The mHealth Alliance and the Rockefeller Foundation have announced the voting period for the Top 11 in 2011 Innovators Challenge is now open. The Challenge, which accepted nominations from October 5 to November 4, has launched a virtual voting process on HealthUnbound.org (HUB). The Challenge’s goal is to recognize individuals who have used mobile technology in innovative ways to improve health systems and outcomes particularly in the most remote areas of the world.
“Nominations have come from more than 30 countries around the world, including many low-income countries,” said Karl Brown, Associate Director of applied technology at the Rockefeller Foundation and member of the Alliance’s Partnership Board. “We are positive that the top 11 will be an inspiring set of role models for this quickly evolving field.”
The Innovators Challenge voting process is open to the public from November 8 to 11, after which a selection committee will review the nominations and submit their votes. Winning innovators will be determined by a combination of public and selection committee votes. Winners will receive an all-expense paid trip to the 2011 mHealth Summit in the Washington, DC area in December and will be honored at a reception hosted by the mHealth Alliance on December 4.
To vote for the top 11 innovators, individuals can access the virtual voting platform on HealthUnbound.org (HUB), where information about the top 30 nominees is displayed. Voters can log into HUB and select the 11 innovators that inspire them based on the Challenge’s selection criteria. HUB is an interactive network and online knowledge resource center that serves as a convening point for the mobile health (mHealth) community around many topics, including the Innovators Challenge.
“With so many nominations from innovators around the world, narrowing the winners down to 11 will not be an easy process,” said Patty Mechael, Executive Director of the mHealth Alliance. “mHealth can improve health in so many ways, from guiding clinical decisions to delivering vital prenatal information to expecting mothers via text message. Opening the voting process to the public allows us to showcase the diversity of areas in which mobile technology can have a healthy impact and the innovators that are charting new territory.”
To vote in the Top 11 in 2011 Innovators Challenge, or to learn more about the Challenge, or engage with the growing mHealth community on HUB, visit www.HealthUnbound.org.