ZS PRIZE awarded a total of Rs 1.5 crore among the top eight teams
ZS, a global management consulting and technology firm focussed on transforming healthcare and beyond, announced the winners of the second edition of ZS PRIZE, a healthcare innovation award. Since it launched in November 2022, this national initiative has received more than 25,000 registrations, from which the top 20 and top eight entries were chosen. The top eight teams presented their ideas to a jury that selected the ZS PRIZE winners this year, which was chaired by Ravi Venkatesan, Business Leader, Author, and Social Entrepreneur.
The entries were shortlisted based on their innovative solutions to the most pressing problems and challenges in the Indian healthcare sector to improve the accessibility and affordability of healthcare for all. Throughout the challenge, the jury panel and mentors offered continuous feedback to participants to help them bring their prototypes closer to reality.
The winners of the 2023 ZS PRIZE are:
- Winning team: Briota for introducing ‘SiA’, holistic digital respiratory therapeutics for Asthma, COPD, Long Covid, ILD and Post TB Lung condition patients
- Runner-up teams: Ayati Devices for introducing ‘Angiocam’, a non-invasive imaging device for Diabetes foot detection, and Urvogel Bio for introducing ‘Urvogelbio’, to diagnose brain pathologies from the peripheral space with neuronal exosomes
Special mention for outstanding effort and innovative solutions was awarded to team NeoDocs for ideating Neodocs for instant lab tests on smartphones, and team Primary Healthtech, which conceptualised Mobilab, aimed at enabling accessible early disease diagnosis for the last mile population.
The top eight teams won awards totalling Rs 1.5 crore, along with mentorship and funding. The winning team received Rs 75 lakhs, followed by runner-up teams that received Rs 25 lakh each. The two special mention teams won Rs 10 lakh each and the remaining three teams (who made it to Top 8) won Rs 2 lakh each.
While congratulating the ZS PRIZE winners, Sanjay Joshi, Managing Principal, ZS, said, “ZS PRIZE recognises exceptional young brains and startups that have been catalysts in propelling the expansion of the Indian healthcare sector. The winning teams have shown great vision and ingenuity in solving real-world problems, and we are delighted to congratulate them. We also congratulate all the other shortlisted teams for their excellent entries and the jury panel for their insightful deliberations in selecting the winning teams.”
Mohit Sood, Regional Managing Principal, ZS, said, “Through ZS PRIZE, we are delighted to explore the synergies between industry and academia while working together to find real-world solutions for pressing healthcare challenges. It’s been a wonderful experience watching the teams come up with innovative ideas that could have a great impact on how healthcare organizations operate in the future to create a sustainable, equitable and accessible healthcare ecosystem in India. This year has been especially inspiring, as the calibre of entries was higher than ever.”
ZS PRIZE offers an opportunity to recognize and celebrate innovations in healthcare using data, analytics and advanced technology. The initiative’s goals are to identify and support innovative ideas, foster collaboration between participants and mentors and ultimately recognize the most promising ideas. It aims to shape the future of Indian healthcare, promote healthcare equity and #SolveForIndia by encouraging innovative healthcare solutions that are large-scale, accessible and affordable for all.
The ZS PRIZE awards were adjudged by a prominent jury comprising:
· Ravi Venkatesan, Jury Chairman, Business Leader, Author, and Social Entrepreneur
· GV Prasad, Indian business executive, and co-Chairman and Managing Director of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories
· Aarti Shah, Board Member at NVIDIA and Northwestern Mutual
· Vijay Chandru, Co-Founder, Strand Life Sciences
· Dr Ferzaan Engineer, Co-founder and Chairman, Cytecare Hospitals
· Vinita Bali, Global business leader, ex-MD & CEO of Britannia.
