MEDNOVA

From Ideas to Impact.

Digital Innovation Pitch: Apps & Platforms

Theme: Innovation and Sustainability in Healthcare

Purpose: To invite undergraduate students to pitch practical, innovative digital solutions to real problems in healthcare, health sciences education, dentistry, and allied health sciences.

1. Overview and Objectives

MedNova is a student digital innovation pitch competition focused on identifying healthcare challenges and proposing feasible, impactful, and sustainable digital solutions. Participants are invited to present an idea for either a mobile application or a digital platform. The emphasis is on the problem being solved, the value of the proposed solution, its feasibility, and its potential to improve healthcare or health sciences education.

• Encourage problem-solving and innovation among undergraduate health sciences students.
• Promote digital solutions that are practical, accessible, scalable, and sustainable.
• Support interdisciplinary collaboration across medical, dental, and allied health sciences programmes.
• Help students communicate ideas clearly and develop an early-stage concept into a potential project.

2. Eligibility

• Undergraduate students enrolled in medical, dental, or allied health sciences programmes at recognized institutions may participate.
• Entries may be submitted by an individual student or a team.
• A faculty mentor may provide guidance, but students must clearly describe their own contribution.
• Ideas may be at an early concept stage; a fully functional application or platform is not required.

3. Competition Categories

Category A: App Idea Pitch

Participants will pitch an idea for a mobile application or app-based digital solution that addresses a clearly identified problem in healthcare, dentistry, public health, patient support, health sciences education, or allied health services.

Examples may include, but are not limited to:

• A patient education, medication-adherence, or appointment-support app.
• A digital tool for screening awareness, prevention, or healthy behaviour.
• An app that supports clinical learning, revision, assessment, or skills practice.
• A tool that improves access, communication, coordination, or continuity of care.

Category B: Digital Platform Idea Pitch

Participants will pitch a concept for a broader digital platform, such as a web-based service, portal, dashboard, online network, or integrated system that connects users, services, information, or workflows to solve a healthcare-related problem.

Examples may include, but are not limited to:

• A platform connecting patients with health information, services, or follow-up support.
• A digital system for coordinating referrals, community health activities, or allied health services.
• An educational platform for collaborative learning, digital resources, or peer support.
• A platform that improves resource use, reduces waste, supports continuity of care, or makes healthcare services more accessible.

4. Theme: Innovation and Sustainability in Healthcare:

Projects should identify a real problem and propose a digital solution that offers a clear benefit. Sustainability may be considered in environmental, financial, operational, or social terms. Examples include reducing unnecessary paper use, avoiding duplicated processes, making better use of existing resources, improving access for underserved users, or designing a solution that can be maintained and scaled over time.

The project does not need to address every aspect of sustainability. Participants should explain which type of sustainability is relevant to their idea and how the proposed solution could contribute to it.

5. Submission Proposal Requirements:

Each entry should be submitted as a concise proposal of approximately 250–300 words. (A working prototype is not compulsory)

It should include the following:

1. Project title and selected category (App Idea Pitch or Digital Platform Idea Pitch).
2. Names of student contributors, programme, institution, and year of study.
3. Faculty mentor, if applicable.
4. Problem statement: What specific healthcare or health sciences problem needs to be solved, and who experiences it?
5. Proposed solution: What will the app or platform do, and how will it work?
6. Target users and expected benefit.
7. Innovation: How is the proposed solution different from or better than existing approaches?
8. Sustainability: How could the solution remain useful, accessible, affordable, or resource-efficient over time?
9. Feasibility: What key resources, expertise, partnerships, or technology might be needed?
10. A simple sketch, wireframe, flow diagram, mock-up, or brief slide deck, if available.

6. Submission and shortlisting process:

• The proposal will be submitted in pdf format at the given email.
• The committee will screen submissions for eligibility, relevance, completeness, and category placement.
• Shortlisted students will be informed of the pitch schedule and any presentation requirements.
• The judging panel will score each category using its respective rubric.
• The panel’s decisions will be final.
• The submission deadline, submission link, contact details, pitch schedule, and prize details will be announced separately.

7. Pitch presentation:

    Shortlisted participants will present their ideas to an evaluation panel on Annual Integrated Research Conference 2026.

 The recommended format is a 3-minute pitch followed by 2 minutes for questions.

 The pitch should briefly cover:

•           The problem and the people affected.

•           The proposed app or digital platform and its main features.

•           Why the solution is innovative and useful.

•           How it could contribute to sustainability in healthcare.

•           Feasibility, potential challenges, and the next steps needed to develop the idea

8. Judging Criteria — Category A: App Idea Pitch

Criterion	Weight
1. Importance and clarity of the problem	20%
2. Innovation and differentiation from existing apps or solutions	20%
3. Usefulness for target users and potential healthcare impact	20%
4. Feasibility and clarity of app features/user journey	15%
5. Sustainability, accessibility, and potential to scale	15%
6.Quality and clarity of pitch; responses to questions	10%
TOTAL	100%

9. Judging Criteria — Category B: Digital Platform Idea Pitch

 

Criterion	Weight
1. Importance and clarity of the problem	20%
2. Innovation and value compared with existing systems or services	20%
3. Potential to improve healthcare delivery, education, coordination, or           access	20%
4. Feasibility, usability, and clarity of the proposed platform model	15%
5. Sustainability, scalability, and responsible use of resources	15%
6. Quality and clarity of pitch; responses to questions	10%
TOTAL	100%

10. Awards

Certificates of participation will be provided to shortlisted presenters and winner and runner up will be awarded.

11. Originality, Ethics, Privacy, and Intellectual Property

• Submissions must reflect the students’ own idea or their contribution to a collaborative concept.
• Participants should acknowledge relevant existing apps, platforms, publications, AI tools that aided the idea.
• The proposed solution must not rely on unauthorized use of patient information or identifiable health data.
• Students should consider confidentiality, accessibility, safety in the design of their proposed solution.
• Participants retain ownership of their intellectual property, subject to applicable institutional policies and existing agreements. Submission does not itself transfer ownership to the organizers.
• Participants who may wish to protect an invention or software-related intellectual property should seek appropriate advice before publicly disclosing sensitive details.