4th Commonwealth Digital Health Awards
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4th COMMONWEALTH DIGITAL HEALTH AWARDS
16th May 2020
Geneva, Switzerland
About Commonwealth Digital Health AwardsThe Commonwealth Digital Health Awards (CWDHA) is a flagship project of the Digital Health Initiative of the Commonwealth Medical Association. The CWDHA were first held in October 2016 alongside the 24th Triennial Conference of the Commonwealth Medical Association in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The 2nd and 3rd editions of the CWDHA were held in October 2017 and in October 2018. The award partners in 2016 and 2017 were Microsoft® and Google® respectively. In all three editions of the awards the judging process was managed by KPMG®
The Awards in 2018 were the most successful so far. This was because of the high profile the awards received after the Commonwealth Centre for Digital Health (CWCDH), which was launched during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London in April 2018, took over its management and the BMJ® group coming on board as the awards partners and giving global visibility to the call for Awards through all their online journal platforms. As a result, in 2018 there were 80 submissions from 23 countries with 10 winners. The judging process and the awards ceremonies from 2016 to 2018 were conducted in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The Commonwealth Digital Health Awards (CWDHA) is a flagship project of the Digital Health Initiative of the Commonwealth Medical Association. The CWDHA were first held in October 2016 alongside the 24th Triennial Conference of the Commonwealth Medical Association in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The 2nd and 3rd editions of the CWDHA were held in October 2017 and in October 2018. The award partners in 2016 and 2017 were Microsoft® and Google® respectively. In all three editions of the awards the judging process was managed by KPMG®
The Awards in 2018 were the most successful so far. This was because of the high profile the awards received after the Commonwealth Centre for Digital Health (CWCDH), which was launched during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London in April 2018, took over its management and the BMJ® group coming on board as the awards partners and giving global visibility to the call for Awards through all their online journal platforms. As a result, in 2018 there were 80 submissions from 23 countries with 10 winners. The judging process and the awards ceremonies from 2016 to 2018 were conducted in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
In 2019 the CWCDH decided to move the CWDHA to Geneva and to conduct it alongside the Commonwealth Health Ministers Meeting (CHMM) and the World Health Assembly (WHO) to give more visibility to award winners starting in May 2020 on the theme ‘Towards Connected Health’. The landmark event will create excellent awareness among key decision makers, including the Health Ministers of the 53 Commonwealth Countries, about ‘Connected Health’ frugal innovations - low cost, highly effective solutions that deserve to be developed, or are ready to be scaled quickly in one or more countries.
The 4th CWDHA is organized by the Commonwealth Medical Association, the Commonwealth Centre for Digital Health (CWCDH), the Commonwealth Digital Accelerator, and the Health Informatics Society of Sri Lanka. BMJ®, the Awards Partner, would promotes the CWDHA globally through their online journal platforms. The CWDHA judging process would be managed by KPMG®.
The CWDHA in its 4th iteration also expands its reach to tech companies and entrepreneurs beyond the Commonwealth, specifically to Europe and USA, and its scope to include the concept of ‘connected health’.
In December 2015, the Sri Lanka Medical Association, nominated Prof. Vajira H. W. Dissanayake to be its nominee for the President of the Commonwealth Medical Association (CMA) from 2016 to 2019. Prof. Dissanayake, with a background in genomics and biomedical informatics, proposed the setting up of a Commonwealth Digital Health Network as the flagship project of his Presidency. He presented this to the Commonwealth Advisory Committee on Health (CACH) at its meeting from 17 to 18 March 2016 and invited the CACH to convene in Colombo in October 2016 during the CMA’s Triennial Conference. Prof. Dissanayake presented his plans for the network to the Council of the CMA at its meeting on 13 October 2016 and it was accepted.
The Commonwealth Medical Association (CMA) held its 24th Triennial Conference on the theme ‘Digital Health for Health and Wellbeing’ in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 14 to 16 October 2016. This conference was preceded by the meeting of the Commonwealth Advisory Committee on Health (CACH) from 12 to 13 October 2016. The deliberations of the CACH and the deliberations during the 24th Triennial Conference of the CMA resulted in the ‘Colombo Declaration’. The declaration emphasized the importance of Digital Health. The Commitment was further strengthened during a visit of the Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka to the Commonwealth Secretariat on 16 January 2017. The CACH met again from 21 to 23 March 2017 in London, UK and approved the Commonwealth Policy brief on “Digital Systems for One Health Global – Health Security and Health Systems Strengthening in the Digital Era”. This policy brief was presented to the commonwealth health ministers at the annual Commonwealth Health Ministers Meeting (CHMM) on 21 May 2017 in Geneva, Switzerland.
It was envisaged that a Commonwealth Digital Health Network be set up with a central hub based in London working in collaboration with regional hubs in Commonwealth nations. This commitment was reaffirmed at the 2nd Commonwealth Digital Health Conference held in Colombo from 10 to 12 October 2017. During the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting in London on 20 April 2018, the Commonwealth Center for Digital Health (CWCDH) was formally launched to serve as the central hub of
| Connected Health Categories |
Any product or solution that meaningfully adopt technology in creating a better environment for living may be submitted to this category.
Products and solutions capable of impacting the nutritional status of individuals and communities are accepted to this category.
HealthTech denotes the digital health products and solutions that would contribute towards uplifting the health and wellbeing of people and in streamlining health care processes.
EduTech is for products and solutions that demonstrates meaningful use of technology in the field of education and capacity development.
This category is open to digital solutions promoting meaningful use of technology in delivering financial services and managing business processes.
| Sponsored Categories |
INNOVATIVE DIGITAL HEALTH IDEAS
INNOVATIVE DIGITAL HEALTH IDEAS: EARLY CHILDHOOD
This category will accept submissions including innovative ideas under following themes:- Prevention/interception of atopic dermatitis
- Healthy sleep
- Diagnosing and improving cognitive capacity
- Diagnosing microbiome irregularities and maintaining good microbiome health
- Early life diagnostics
Digital Health Solutions to Fight COVID-19
Please submit digital health products and solutions that can help countries, organizations
and people to fight against COVID-19 pandemic and overcome the challenges posed by the
same.
Aims of the Commonwealth “Connected Health” Awards
The CWDHA is designed to build a valuable digital product pipeline to improve the health and wellbeing of billions, including but not limited to those with few resources. In our experience, many digital innovators with excellent solutions cannot take the next step and become entrepreneurs. They lack even minimal resources and expertise to build a successful startup.
We believe in sustainable entrepreneurship where business values and social values progress hand in hand. Towards this end, we are creating an ecosystem where commercial and mission-led development partners, governments, investors, researchers, and digital health experts compliment each others skills to rapidly and efficiently develop and scale solutions in some of highest need categories. The awards are the nucleus of this ecosystem.
The key objectives of the CWDHA are:
- To provide a platform for digital entrepreneurs, innovators and researchers from around the world to showcase their products and solutions.
- To support high potential digital innovations, achieve high impact in Commonwealth countries and in the developing contexts by means of recognition, investment mentorship and scaling.
- To create a marketplace for development partners, funding agencies, investors, governments and state institutions, and industry partners.
- To facilitate networking between digital innovators, investors, researchers and development partners thus enabling a ‘connected health ecosystem’.
- To promote sharing of digital technologies and ideas as global goods.
Judging Process
An eminent panel of judges shall be appointed by the Commonwealth Medical Association and the CWCDH representing the industry, academia, development partners, and practitioners. The judging process shall be guided by the KPMG thus maintaining transparency and quality of the judging process.
The judging process shall consist of several steps:
The first round of evaluation shall be online.
The final round shall consist of expert evaluation at the digital health market place that would take place in geneva.
CWDHA 2020Schedule
Following are the important dates in the CWDHA 2020 schedule:
5 December 2019
Call for submissions – Sponsored Category
5 December 2019
5 December 2019 to 31 December 2019
Inquiries and clarifications
1 January 2020
Call for applications for products and services under HealthTech, EduTech, FinTech, EcoTech, and NutriTech categories.
1 January 2020
30 June 2020
Closing date for Applications
1 July 2020
Applications Review
1 July 2020
10 July 2020
Inform shortlisted applicants to register for onsite judging
date to be announced
Virtual presentations and judging
date to be announced
date to be announced
Virtual Awards Ceremony with Announcement of Winners
Our Partners
Opportunities forSponsorship
CWDHA 2020 Event Partners
CWDHA 2020 Event Partner
TAn event partner can contribute in different ways to the success of the event. This is an opportunity for funding agencies, development partners and industry leaders to take a lead role in realizing scalable digital "Connected Health" solutions.
Theme Sponsors
Theme Sponsor
Theme sponsors will be able to choose a theme of their choice and gain an opportunity to make connections with innovators of their theme. A theme sponsorship is ideal for industry participants and agencies with a specific product or service interest. This will also be an ideal opportunity for the industry or development partners who seek breakthrough innovations in digital health to resolve a particular health related challenge.
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CWCDHA 2020 | Geneva, Switzerland