26th September 2011
GE Healthcare – healthymagination open innovation challenge
Open Innovation to Save Lives
GE announced today a $100 million global open innovation challenge that seeks to identify and bring to market ideas that advance breast cancer diagnostics. The goal is to help health care professionals better understand tumours associated with triple negative cancer, a type of cancer that is less responsive to standard treatments and is typically more aggressive, as well as the molecular similarities between breast cancer and other solid tumours, improving early detection, allowing for more accurate diagnoses and ultimately helping doctors make the best possible treatment decisions based on each patient’s unique cancer.
The Challenge is open immediately for entries at www.healthymagination.com/challenge and Challenge entrants will be evaluated by a committee of representatives from GE and venture capital partner firms. A separate, independent judging panel that includes GE executives, venture capital partners and several leading healthcare luminaries – such as former U.S. FDA Commissioner and National Cancer Institute Director, Dr. Andrew Von Eschenbach; Professor of Surgery and Director of the University of Michigan Breast Care Centre, Dr. Lisa Newman; and cancer medicine specialist and Imperial College’s professor of cancer medicine, Dr. Justin Stebbing – will select the recipients of the $100,000 innovation seed grants. To view the full terms and conditions, visit www.healthymagination.com/challenge. Winners will be announced in the first quarter of 2012.
Further Information
GE’s healthymagination Challenge: Assembling Tools to Fight Cancer is an open call to action for businesses, entrepreneurs, innovators and students with breakthrough ideas for accelerating early detection and enabling more personalized treatment for breast cancer.
The healthymagination Challenge is focused on finding new ideas that accelerate innovation in early diagnosis, patient stratification, and the personalized treatment of breast cancer. Specific sub-challenges will be run during different portions of the healthymagination Challenge. From September 15, 2011, until November 20, 2011, the sub-challenges are:
1. Breast cancer pathways: Map breast cancer pathways independent of classic hormone dependent signalling and how those pathways relate to “triple negative” breast cancer (her 2, estrogen and progesterone receptor negative) – identify possible diagnostics and potential targeted treatments.
2. Molecular similarities between tumours: Map the molecular/proteomic similarities between breast cancer and other solid tumours especially as it relates to the establishment of a tissue independent classification of cancer and pathway centric therapeutic intervention.
Submissions for the first challenge will close on 20 November 2011
A panel of judges will select five entries to receive cash awards. The judging panel will evaluate each entry based on merit; scientific foundation; innovative character; potential to significant impact; economic viability and sustainability and other factors deemed appropriate by the judges.
Each of the five innovation challenge award recipients will receive $100,000 in cash.
The evaluation committee will also consider one or more of the following for selected Challenge entrants:
§ An equity investment by GE or others
§ A cooperative agreement to develop a product or technology
§ A review of your product or service for possible qualification to be a part of the GE ecomagination program
All entries are the intellectual property of the entrants.