12 teams selected for the final of Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE 2013

The 12 finalists of the first Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE competition have been announced today. 

The Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE is a global competition aimed at accelerating the use of sensors and sensing technology to tackle healthcare problems and revolutionise how individuals can monitor and maintain their personal well-being.

The competition, which offers $2.25 million in prize money, is run by the XPRIZE Foundation, in partnership with Nokia.

The organisers hope that the competition can lead to important technological developments that will provide people with simple access to quality healthcare information and services worldwide. 

The finalists 

Following a review of the 26 submissions, a panel of health leaders and industry experts selected the final teams because they were judged to be the most credible in the following areas: 

• Technical innovation
• Accuracy
• Ease-of-use
• Originality
• Portability
• Relevance to public health needs
• Integration with other software and hardware
• Multi-functionality

Among the 12 finalists are i-calQ who are creating the world’s first quantitative point-of-care diagnostic tool integrated into a smartphone and Holomic, experts in photonics-based technologies for mobile health applications.

You can see the full list of 12 finalists on the Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE website.

Winners

The next stage in the competition takes place in late September when the 12 teams will give their final presentations to the judges at the Health 2.0  conference in California. 

The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on the final day of Health 2.0. There is a $525,000 Grand Prize for the overall winner and up to five Distinguished Awards, each valued at $120,000. 

Nokia’s involvement with this competition underlines the company’s commitment to research and innovation, and how technology can be used to improve the lives of people all over the world.

“While there has been an influx of market activity around health and fitness applications, medical diagnostic and sensing technologies for consumers remains scarce,” said Henry Tirri, Chief Technology Officer, Nokia.

“Through this competition and the selection of the finalist teams, we’re eager to see developments in consumer-focused applications and technologies that will potentially transform the way healthcare is delivered across the globe on multiple levels including monitoring, prevention, diagnosis, and disease management.”