75 development teams battled it out for the title
A perennial highlight of MEDICA, the world’s leading medical trade fair, is the MEDICA App COMPETITION. Development teams from all over the world compete in a challenge to create the best health app solution.
The winner of this year’s MEDICA App COMPETITION (#6MAC17) is iSikCure from Kenya. iSikCure came from one of 15 project teams that used the opportunity to present their project to the international professional audience at MEDICA (held from 13 to 16 November 2017) in Hall 15 on Wednesday 15 November 2017. In total, 75 teams applied and a highly qualified specialist jury selected 15 projects out of these for the final round. All the finalists should be congratulated on reaching this stage of the competition.
The ambitious victor, iSikCure, seeks to pave the way to the healthcare system, specifically in Africa. Dr. Moka Lantum, Co-Founder of MicroClinic Technologies, painted an impressive picture of the benefits of this service in Africa, above all: “Although the Internet of Things is the current trending topic in the four corners of the globe, we are more focused on the Internet of People”. The aim of this app is to get lifesaving medicines to the places that need them most.
Lantum further explained that people in most African countries pay for their healthcare in cash. Twenty percent of households had no access to medicine or a doctor. iSikCure wants to combat this. Here, users pay the service providers who are on the app via cash, credit cards, credit notes for their self-regulating communities or MedCoins which can be gained via compliance with treatment. iSikCure uses LinkedIn to find a doctor, TripAdvisor for scheduling and Amazon to purchase medical products. It is thus a marketplace for anyone that is offering this type of healthcare service.
The second place in the MEDICA App COMPETITION was taken by the Air Smart Spirometer project, which is described as the first spirometer that is linked with a smartphone. Here, the user can measure their lung capacity on their own. Max Ladow, Product Manager at NuvoAir, explained more in his presentation: “A spirometer test such as this one takes less than 30 seconds and means that lung function can be measured at home. The data can be shared with a doctor at the push of a button”. This means that the patient gets a reliable picture of how their lung health is progressing and the doctor following the patient receives useful information on how to target their therapy.
Kaia, an application from Munich, received third place. It brings multidisciplinary therapies for back pain, which are in line with directives, into the digital world. Maximilian Wühr, Head of Business Development at Kaia, remarked that patients wait around one and a half years for traditional multidisciplinary therapy which then lasts four weeks, consisting of a couple of sessions of therapy a week for a few hours each time.
Kaia is cheaper, therapy can begin straight away and it takes less than 15 minutes per day. The therapy focuses on both body and soul. Thanks to artificial intelligence, Kaia will soon support users in performing their exercises and help them to avoid potential errors whilst performing them. Kaia is already available in computer format and should soon be available as an app. Already, mobility exercises reinforce the stabilizer muscles, stretching exercises help release tension and remove stress. Information modules explain the root causes of pain and demonstrate easy, effective ways to combat back pain. A Kaia Coach can be contacted directly in the app using the chat function.
The first place winner was awarded 2,000 euros, second place was awarded 1,000 euros and third place received 500 euros. However, having the chance to present their ideas to a huge international professional audience at MEDICA was undoubtedly the most important element for all participants in the final round.
Further information is available online at: http://www.medica-tradefair.com/mac2.
Date of the next MEDICA in Düsseldorf: 12 – 15/11/2018
Messe Düsseldorf GmbH
MEDICA Press and Public Relations
Martin-Ulf Koch / Larissa Browa
Tel. +49(0)211-4560-444/ -549
E-mail: [email protected]
Düsseldorf, November 2017