The X PRIZE Foundation and Nokia today announced
the launch of the Nokia Sensing X Challenge, a $2.25 million global
competition to stimulate the development of a new generation of health
sensors and sensing technologies that can drastically improve the
quality, accuracy and ease of monitoring a person's health. Improvements
in these technologies will empower individuals to effortlessly monitor
and collect their own real-time health data, providing both consumers
and healthcare providers convenient access to critical information
whenever and wherever they need it.
The announcement was made by X PRIZE Foundation Chairman and CEO Dr.
Peter H. Diamandis and Nokia Executive Vice President and Chief
Technology Officer Dr. Henry Tirri during their keynote address at the
Wireless Health Convergence Summit in San Diego, Calif.
"Partnering with Nokia is a natural fit for this competition. Health
sensing technologies enabled by artificial intelligence, lab-on-a-chip,
and digital imaging are advancing exponentially and will ultimately
integrate with your phone. We need to expand sensor and sensing
technology beyond disease management to areas such as public health and
fitness," said Dr. Diamandis. "The Nokia Sensing X Challenge will bring
about radical innovation in health sensors and sensing technologies,
which paves the way for better choices in when, where, and how
individuals receive care. Ultimately, healthcare will be more
convenient, affordable, and accessible to consumers worldwide through
these integrated digital health solutions."
Healthcare systems are still quite inefficient in a lot of countries
and they have been both a social and a political issue for most
countries. Health sensors have the capacity to stem this trend. Consumer
use of sensors and sensing solutions has the potential to improve,
extend and ease delivery of healthcare services, as well as reduce costs
to the benefit of health providers and patients. "Nokia engages in Open
Innovation on many different levels; this type of 'grand Challenge' is
not only a unique method of driving significant progress in a short
space of time, but one which can also help to create an entire
ecosystem," said Dr. Tirri. "This competition will enable us to realize
the full potential of mobile sensing devices, leading to advances in
sensing technology which can play a major role in transforming the lives
of billions of people around the world."
The Nokia Sensing X Challenge will be a series of three competition
events, held over the next three years. Each event will be comprised of
three phases: Registration, Preliminary Judging and Final Phase Judging.
The winners of each competition will be the teams that submit best in
class technology as determined by a non-partisan judging panel of
cross-functional industry experts.
It is anticipated that the solutions developed as part of the Nokia
Sensing X Challenge may also be utilized as part of a team's effort to
win the $10 million Qualcomm Tricorder X PRIZE, which was announced at
the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) during Qualcomm Incorporated
Chairman and CEO and Qualcomm Foundation Chair Dr. Paul Jacobs' keynote
address. The Qualcomm Tricorder X PRIZE is a global competition aiming
to drive development of devices that allow consumers access to
healthcare in the palm of their hands. The Nokia Sensing X Challenge and
Qualcomm Tricorder X PRIZE will help create an ecosystem of innovators
and innovative technology that will help reinvent the healthcare
industry and radically reduce the cost to consumers. For more
information about the Nokia Sensing X Challenge.