Malaysia-Sweden team up to launch Digital Health Innovation Challenge

Sweden and Malaysia have jointly launched the Digital Health Innovation Challenge, inviting local start-ups to help address the prevalence of non-communicable diseases in the country.

The initiative is a collaboration between Team Sweden comprising the Embassy of Sweden, Business Sweden and AstraZeneca and Team Malaysia comprising Sunway iLabs, Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC) and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC).

The Innovation Challenge aims to identify solutions that can empower NCD patients and high-risk communities to proactively reduce the risk factors of these diseases by encouraging healthy living and increase accessibility to digital tools enabling self-care and monitoring. The selected start-ups will get access to incubation programmes, global innovation networks, mentorship and funding, and an opportunity to collaborate with the partners to solve healthcare challenges in Malaysia.

“The Digital Health Innovation Challenge is a great opportunity for start-ups to explore solutions from multiple angles and to work with partners to exchange knowledge and scale-up across borders”, said Sara Hedin, Swedish Trade Commissioner to Malaysia.

“At AstraZeneca, empowering patients with innovative digital health care solutions and technologies is close to our hearts as we put patients at the centre of everything we do. We believe that digital health is a means of making our health systems even more patient-centric. For this reason, we engage in various partnerships to deliver next-generation health solutions. explained Dr Sanjeev Panchal, Country President AstraZeneca Malaysia

Surina Shukri, CEO, MDEC continued, “HealthTech is one of the key areas that MDEC is looking to grow within our tech ecosystem. We are delighted to be a key partner in the Digital Health Innovation Challenge as it provides us with the opportunity to stimulate this growing ecosystem in Malaysia. This challenge plays a crucial role in highlighting the capabilities of Malaysian healthtech startups. It also empowers them to create technological impact within the health industry that the pandemic is accelerating.

For more information and to apply, go to Digital Health Innovation Challenge Application Form

(This content is surmised from a press release)