The National Cancer Institute and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT have launched an innovation competition to use public data to develop software applications that can potentially integrate with health IT platforms to help prevent and control cancer. Developers can vie for awards up to $20,000.
Teams will tackle hurdles that consumers, physicians or researches face along the range of cancer control, according to an announcement In the July 22 Federal Register.
Specifically, entrants are charged with designing new methods to promote and distribute information about early cancer detection and screening, making informed decisions, adherence to treatment plans, and healthy behaviors, including physical activity and smoking cessation.
Examples might include apps that provide new ways of visualizing and communicating complex health information about cancer risk; consumer decision support incorporating multiple sources of data used to reduce the burden of cancer and enhance outcomes following diagnosis and treatment; and decision aides for cancer screening.
The focus of the tools will be to use health data made available by the National Cancer Institute, a part of the National Institutes of Health, and other federal and state agencies, as well as the potential for their apps’ impact, innovation and usability.
Submissions are due Aug. 26 for the first phase of the challenge. Finalists from Phase I will receive a $10,000 award at a major health IT conference in September. In Phase II, up to two winning teams from the slate of finalists will each receive a $20,000 award at an international system sciences conference in January 2012.
The competition, “Using Public Data for Cancer Prevention and Control: From Innovation to Impact,” officially started July 21 and is part of ONC’s Investing in Innovations (i2) Initiative. San Francisco-based Health 2.0 manages the developer challenge for ONC.
