India-Sweden Healthcare Innovation Centre virtually launched its first healthcare innovation challenge and website.

The website and the Innovation Challenge for the centre were launched by the Chief Guest Rajesh Bhushan, Secretory, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India and Special Guest Prof. (Dr.) Balram Bhargava, Secretary - DHR & DG-ICMR, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India .

The innovation challenge is an opportunity for startups to collaborate with partners on the Innovation Centre platform to help solve some of the problems in the healthcare delivery landscape of India.

The Innovation Centre is built under strategic guidance from Government of India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Government of Sweden’s Ministry of Health and Social Affairs and Embassy of Sweden in India.

It also has a strong network of ecosystem partners - Atal Innovation Mission, Invest India, AGNII, Startup India, and, knowledge partners – AstraZeneca, NASSCOM and VINNOVA.

The challenge would focus on innovative Digital Tools/Platforms - Med-Tech, Tele-Medicine, Artificial Intelligence backed solutions that support new ways of working and improve the efficiencies of healthcare systems as they manage the pandemic.

The application will be open from 11^th August 2020 till 27^th September 2020.  All the applications will go through a rigorous evaluation process by a panel of experts and includes partners like AIIMS Delhi, AIIMS Jodhpur, ICMR, AstraZeneca, AIM, Invest India and various funding entities. Winners for the innovation challenge will be announced in the last week of October. Interested applicants can apply on the website – www.indiaswedenic.com

The selected startups will collaborate with the India-Sweden Healthcare Innovation Centre to enable faster scale-up, cross-country mentorship, access to state-of-the-art access to incubation center located within AIIMS Jodhpur campus, lab facilities, guidance on funding, and ability to ideate with like-minded innovator from across India and beyond. Onboarded startups can also avail the incubation facility at NASSCOM Bangalore.