Winners of innovation competition chosen
In the past week, the winners of the innovation course Health Tech Innovator at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) were chosen.
The first prize went to Servox, which is a gentler way of measuring the oxygen saturation of the baby during birth. Among the winning team were Susanne Budin, who is an intensive care nurse at OUH and stud.cand.cur.
OUH was also represented in second place with Jette Lunderskov and Gitte Horn, both stud.cand.cur. and part of the team that developed a solution that automatically rinses with salt water after antibiotics.
Peder Jest, executive director at OUH and judge in the final, hopes that as many ideas as possible from the HTI course will be made a reality: "The collaboration on the Health Tech Innovator course really makes the different skills fly! I hope the students will be successful in implementing their solutions, because it will be a loss for the healthcare system if we do not benefit from their innovative ideas”.
The goal is for the students to build on their good idea by either establishing their own company or entering into cooperation with an existing company. Therefore, the prize for the HTI course consists of DKK 20,000 for materials and DKK 12,000 in salary for each group member.
CIMT researcher and head of education at the master's programme in clinical nursing Dorthe Boe Danbjørg is one of the organisers behind the innovation course. She is enthusiastic about the commitment the students show: "The students on the HTI course become more independent and outgoing. When the nurses on the master's programme come back to everyday life at the hospital, we can see that they have a special ability to spot problems, but especially to find solutions to the problems".
Two other CIMT researchers Knud Yderstræde and Mette Juel Rothmann were also part of the judging panel for HTI 2018.
HEALTH TECH INNOVATOR
HTI is an additional offer for students interested in innovation at the Faculty of Health Sciences and engineering students from the Faculty of Technology at SDU to combine their skills and find the best solutions to challenges from the healthcare sector. Since February, the students have been working with innovation based on concrete issues at Odense University Hospital and Odense Municipality. They have been around the departments to 'spot' problems, after which they have developed possible solutions.
The course has just ended with seven groups in the final, and there were prizes for first and second place. This is the third time the Health Tech Innovator has run.
