Company uncovers big innovative ideas
Innovation is the key to solving the continent’s challenges
INNOVATION, according to the panellists present at the Philips innovation panel discussion held at Maboneng recently, is a channel for growth and success of the country and continent, and helps achieve adaptability and growth in the marketplace.
The continent’s competitiveness concerning innovation in order to achieve the desired outcome of an economical improvement needs a little boost.
“Innovation should be at the heart of Africa if we want to address local challenges in South Africa and the continent at large,” said Eddine Sarroukh, head of research, Philips Africa.
Dr Chamunorwa Aloius Togo, the Innovation Specialist: Bioscience at the Innovation Hub, who also formed part of the panel, said: “Africans have always been innovators.
“The issue is the question of confidence that is the centre of most innovators, that most Africans lack.”
Earlier this year, Philips partnered with The Innovation Hub in Pretoria to launch the first Innovation Fellows Competition in South Africa with the aim of uncovering and supporting the next big innovative ideas that will not only help revolutionise South Africa’s health industry, but also assist in addressing regionally relevant challenges in health care.
The top five finalists of the competition were selected from 61 local entries and were each awarded R12 000 on the day.
In addition, they were partnered with a mentor who will guide and tutor them on what’s needed to put together a winning business plan and pitch.
The overall winner will be announced in November, and will receive R200 000 as a research and development budget for their #nextbigidea in improving access to primary health care.
“New innovations can have a substantial impact on health-care service delivery by allowing for better access to care, thanks to more affordable products, for instance, enabling faster diagnosis of illnesses or more effective treatment of diseases,” said JJ van Dongen, senior vice-president and chief executive of Philips Africa.
All innovative ideas focus on dealing with social issues and improving people’s lives.
Van Dongen further said the most exciting part of this competition for Philips was unearthing talent from South Africa, whose innovations would serve as local solutions to health-care gripes.
The five finalists are:
Carol Thomas with her iMobiMaMa IT platform and Mobile Kiosk that will increase access to maternal care highlighting antenatal care in the public and private sectors.
Sudesh Sivarasu proposes to develop a low-cost portable mechan- ical non-invasive continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) ventilator that is mechanically operated and will be used to tackle asthma in children between the ages of 5 and 10.
Ragesh Pillai is looking to make the management of diabetes easier while preventing its side effects, such as kidney failure.
Pillai’s aim is to tackle the challenge of improving diabetes management through a software service designed to facilitate remote monitoring and communication between patients and their caregivers at low cost.
Dean Hodgskiss’s solution aims to increase the capacity of healthcare workers and medical equipment at primary health-care sites by using a mobile communication app specifically developed to operate effectively under challenging African telecommunications conditions.
The proposed solution is an application that runs on Android, iOS and Windows, which will provide caregivers in remote areas (even ones with very poor and unreliable internet connections) with the ability to connect to any person using the application anywhere in the world.
De Wet Swanepoel wants to provide access to early identification of hearing loss, using the low-cost hearScreen mHealth solution, which will result in more timely intervention for optimal development in children.
“We are inspired by these finalists and are looking forward to providing real health-care solutions that will make a real difference in people’s lives,” concluded Van Dongen.
Join the conversation @PhilipsSAfrica #nextbigidea.