HITLAB Announces Winner of the 2017 HITLAB World Cup and Awards $75,000 in Prizes to Advance Voice-Activated Technology in Diabetes

NEW YORK, Dec. 5, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- HITLAB announced today that LIGHTHOUSE, powered by the American Diabetes Association, is the winner of the 2017 HITLAB World Cup of Voice-Activated Technology presented by Novo Nordisk, and took home the $50,000 grand prize. LIGHTHOUSE, a voice-activated application, helps people living with diabetes take the next step in their diabetes care plan by making their care circle more accessible and engaging.

My Diabetes Coach, created by Macadamian, was named runner-up, securing a prize of $15,000. My Diabetes Coach is a cloud-based application specifically for young people with type 2 diabetes. It provides personalized voice-enabled support to help better manage care, and integrates data from wearables and identifies patterns where a patient might need more assistance from their care team.

All five finalists, including T2D2 (third), Palette (fourth), and Proof (fifth), made pitches to a panel of impartial healthcare experts on day two of HITLAB Innovators Summit, held in New York City, which began on November 28.

"There is an incredible gap between what people know they should do and the actions they take in support of their long-term health," said Dave Vockell, LIGHTHOUSE CEO. "LIGHTHOUSE helps patients close that gap, build great lifetime habits and support their broader care team in delivering the best care. Soon, we'll be with a patient everywhere they make choices, fundamentally changing the quality of their life."

For more than 15 years, HITLAB has helped leading organizations ideate, create, evaluate, and diffuse technology-based solutions to pressing healthcare challenges. HITLAB has hosted the annual HITLAB World Cup Challenge since 2006, and this year was the first to focus on a single disease and specific area of technology. 146 applications from 15 countries were received. Finalist concepts strove to enhance patient outcomes, lower healthcare costs without compromising quality, and improve health and quality of life for those living with type 2 diabetes.

"We believe that the power of voice wipes away barriers of technology apprehension, literacy and language, and will be a critical influence on the long-term health of everyone," adds Vockell. "HITLAB has a long history of bringing together innovative care providers, and we are eager to touch the lives of our next 100,000 patients."

Past HITLAB World Cup winners have since raised over $50 million in follow-on investment funding and launched commercially viable products that are transforming lives. HITLAB is already planning its 2018 Innovators Summit and World Cup, with details coming soon.

About HITLAB

HITLAB is an innovation and teaching lab dedicated to improving the quality and accessibility of healthcare worldwide. We help leading organizations ideate, create, evaluate, and diffuse technology-based solutions to pressing healthcare challenges.

Our team of public health professionals, statisticians, clinicians, engineers, economists, strategists, designers, and anthropologists is determined to address healthcare needs across the globe. We work with a wide variety of stakeholders in both the public and private sectors to design and disseminate studies, programs, and products that improve healthcare access and delivery.

For more information, please visit www.hitlab.org or follow the company on Twitter @HITLabNYC.

Ken Gardner
HITLAB
[email protected]

SOURCE HITLAB