Boehringer Ingelheim and Ashoka Changemakers Announce Winners of Transforming Health Systems Competition
(Washington, DC and Ingelheim, Germany—July 10, 2013) The three winning business models announced today in the “Transforming Health Systems: Gamechanging Business Models” online competition provide innovative solutions to critical problems in health systems around the world. The competition, which is part of the global partnership between Boehringer Ingelheim and Ashoka called “Making More Health, received 264 entries from 61 countries since it was launched by Boehringer Ingelheim and Ashoka Changemakers in January 2013.
“We were thrilled by the level of innovation demonstrated by the competition entries,” said Andreas Barner, Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors at Boehringer Ingelheim. “The winning business models point toward the future of health systems: innovative service delivery models and new partnerships that make health care more efficient and more valuable for patients.” The winning business models are:
• Registries for ALL: Reg4ALL, submitted by Registries for All—First prizeReg4ALL is the world's first ever participant-controlled, cross-disease registry for health and disease data. The Reg4ALL platform enables patients to connect with researchers who need participants for life-saving clinical trials.
• Improving Access to Oral Healthcare, submitted by Sarrell Dental—Second prizeSarrell Dental, the only full-time Medicaid provider in Alabama, offers quality dental care to children covered by Medicaid. The non-profit’s bold business model has allowed it to scale dramatically, all while lowering the cost of care to the government.
• Sucre Blue, submitted by Sucre Blue—Idea prizeSucre Blue trains and employs low-income village women outside of Bangalore to become community health workers that provide low-cost diabetes diagnostic services in rural communities.
“Once again, our partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim surfaced important innovations that represent leaps forward for patients, care givers, and health delivery systems,” said Ashoka President Diana Wells. “These winners and finalists are a great example of the kind of gamechanging entrepreneurship that brings us closer to the Everyone A Changemaker reality Ashoka envisions for the future.”
The first and second prize winners were selected by a vote of the Ashoka Changemakers online community after the competition’s expert judges chose the top six finalists. The first and second prize winners will receive US $30,000 and US $15,000, respectively.
The third idea prize of US $10,000 was awarded by Boehringer Ingelheim to recognize a highly innovative idea that has not yet reached the business building phase. In addition to the cash prizes, the winners have the opportunity to access consulting services delivered by Boehringer Ingelheim’s Corporate Strategy & Development Department. All finalists have also been invited to apply for an additional funding envelope of US $30,000.
More information about the winners and finalists is available at the competition web site: www.changemakers.com/healthbiz
About Boehringer Ingelheim
The Boehringer Ingelheim group is one of the world’s 20 leading pharmaceutical companies. Headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany, it operates globally with 140 affiliates and more than 46,000 employees. Since it was founded in 1885, the family-owned company has been committed to researching, developing, manufacturing and marketing novel medications of high therapeutic value for human and veterinary medicine.
Social responsibility is a central element of Boehringer Ingelheim's culture. Involvement in social projects, caring for employees and their families, and providing equal opportunities for all employees form the foundation of the global operations. Mutual cooperation and respect, as well as environmental protection and sustainability are intrinsic factors in all of Boehringer Ingelheim’s endeavors.
In 2012, Boehringer Ingelheim achieved net sales of about 14.7 billion euro. R&D expenditure in the business area Prescription Medicines corresponds to 22.5% of its net sales.
For more information please visit www.boehringer-ingelheim.com
About Ashoka Changemakers
Ashoka Changemakers is a community of action that connects social entrepreneurs around the globe to share ideas, inspire, and mentor each other. Through its online collaborative competitions and open-source process, Changemakers.com is one of the world’s most robust spaces for launching, discussing, and funding ideas to solve the world’s most pressing social problems. Changemakers builds on Ashoka's three decade history and belief that we all have the ability to be a Changemaker.
About Making More Health
Since 2010, Boehringer Ingelheim and Ashoka have been working together in a global partnership, “Making more health”. The vision of this long-term initiative is to identify new and better ways of improving health globally. The objectives are to source social innovation around the world, to explore unconventional partnerships and business models, and to develop Boehringer Ingelheim employees. As of today we support actively 39 Fellows (will be 50 by end of 2013) and more than 120 Youth Venture Programmes worldwide.
More at: www.makingmorehealth.org