Digital Healthcare, Public-Private Collaboration Open Innovation Launched... 'HealthXChallenge Seoul'

The Korea Health Industry Development Institute announced on the 30th that it will jointly host the ‘2023 Health X-Challenge Seoul’ together with the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Novartis Korea.

‘2023 Health X-Challenge Seoul’ poster
[Photo by Korea Health Industry Development Institute]

Health X-Challenge Seoul is a global open innovation program that introduced Novartis’ digital healthcare innovation technology competition, the ‘Health X World Series,’ to Korea. The Institute, Seoul Metropolitan Government, and Novartis Korea have been co-hosting the event annually since 2020.

The theme of the 4th edition of the 2023 Health X-Challenge Seoul is ‘Patient-Centered Comprehensive Health Management.’ It focuses on ▲communication between patients and healthcare professionals (support for pre- and post-consultation confirmation, health data sharing, personalized education and quality assurance for each patient) and ▲chronic disease management (disease awareness campaigns, personalized treatment/screening notifications, health monitoring).

Any bio and digital health startups or prospective entrepreneurs with innovative technologies established within the last 10 years can apply in the target recruitment fields. Applications are open until the 26th of next month via the Seoul Bio Hub website.

The selection process will proceed in the order of document review and presentation evaluation by internal and external experts. Document evaluation will be conducted until the end of July, followed by presentation evaluation in mid-August. One company per recruitment field, totaling two companies, will be selected based on comprehensive consideration of theme relevance, technological innovation, business feasibility, and impact. The final selected companies will be announced and awarded in September.

The two final selected companies will each receive a research grant of 40 million KRW, a two-year residency benefit at Seoul Bio Hub operated by the Institute, and opportunities to participate in various nurturing programs. They will also have access to mentoring by experts from Novartis Korea, opportunities to build global networks, and chances for prototype research and development.

The Institute also stated that, following last year’s practice, companies that narrowly missed selection in the presentation evaluation will be given opportunities to participate in global seminars and partnering programs at Seoul Bio Hub for two years, supporting the enhancement of global capabilities of outstanding startups.