LYFEBULB–NOVO NORDISK INNOVATION AWARD AT THE INNOVATION SUMMIT

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
December 7-11, 2016

CHALLENGE TIMELINE

December 7-11, 2016
Innovation Challenge
December 11, 2016
Winner Announcement

The Winner

Brianna Wolin

Brianna Wolin is a passionate entrepreneur, biomedical engineer and food blogger. Find Your Ditto, FYD, began as a student project during her time at the University of Michigan, has earned Brianna several awards at the University as well as recognition by SPARK Ann Arbor, including a fully-funded entrepreneurial bootcamp experience and a commitment to continued guidance. Brianna has lived with Type 1 Diabetes and Celiac Disease the majority of her life. Her food blog, A Different Survival Guide, grew out of her need to cook all of her own low carb, gluten free meals unavailable in campus dining halls. Brianna is the Chief Executive officer of Find Your Ditto, responsible for engagement with universities and healthcare systems, marketing, legal matters, and company finances. Find Your Ditto is the only mobile platform that connects individuals living with the same chronic illness locally for on-demand, in-person peer support to mitigate feelings of loneliness and depression. Users can find their “dittos” and begin to feel like “it’s not just me.”

Brianna Wolin
CEO & Co-Founder

ABOUT THE SUMMIT AND AWARD

One entrepreneur was awarded the first Lyfebulb–Novo Nordisk Innovation Award, sponsored by Novo Nordisk.
WHY PATIENT ENTREPRENEURS MATTER?
Patient entrepreneurs have a unique ability to create a value-adding disease intervention beyond therapy. Our aim is to support patient-driven innovation and laser-focus on improving the quality of life for those living with diabetes.

THE SUMMIT
At this Summit, 10 selected patient entrepreneurs were given an opportunity to engage with Lyfebulb founders and Novo Nordisk Device R&D researchers and engineers
ABOUT THE SUMMIT
6-7 DECEMBER 2016 AT NOVO NORDISK HQ COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

The Lyfebulb–Novo Nordisk Innovation Summit was built on the idea of the Lyfebulb Entrepreneur Circle, which was established in 2015, and features people who either have diabetes or have a close relative with the disease, and have created a product and/or a company based on issues encountered because of their personal experiences with diabetes.

At this Summit, the top 10 patient entrepreneur finalists were given an opportunity to engage with scientists and engineers within the Novo Nordisk Device R&D teams, as well as with the Lyfebulb founders. Beyond presenting their innovative ventures to this group, the 10 finalists also had a chance to interact and exchange ideas on how to advance further patient entrepreneurship in the diabetes community.

BENEFITS OF THE LYFEBULB–NOVO NORDISK INNOVATION AWARD

National and international recognition. The benefit for patient entrepreneurs of participating is the visibility given to the selected 10 finalists and the Winner in particular.
Invitation to the Lyfebulb–Novo Nordisk Innovation Summit 2016 in Copenhagen as one of 10 Finalists. The Innovation Summit aims to link entrepreneurs with senior device researchers and engineers from Novo Nordisk in order to spotlight entrepreneurs’ efforts and ideas, and provide professional discussion, direction, and inspiration. During the day, in mixed teams of Novo Nordisk engineers and entrepreneurs, the group was presented an innovation challenge. Teams were tasked to develop ideas together through brainstorming and prototyping.
The winner was announced on 7 December during the annual Patient Disease expert meeting. The winner was chosen, by a judging panel made up of international representatives of the diabetes patient community.

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FINALISTS

AWARD & JUDGING CRITERIA

The Award was open to patient entrepreneurs currently working on an innovative project, which can advance the prevention, management, or care of diabetes. The Award was open to entrepreneurs in every kind of health IT, consumer or medical device area, from every country in the world.

The judging panel will assess the following:

WHAT WERE THE JUDGING CRITERIA?

The judging panel looked for evidence of:

  • How the invention/product had the potential to improve the lives of people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes?
  • In what aspects the product or service was unique in the market (not an altered marketed device) and met other demands as well?
  • Usage of innovative and effective technologies that are scalable.
  • Ability to meet most of the healthcare challenges (e.g. funding, regulations, requirements for clinical testing, etc.)
  • Team behind the project.

WHO WAS ELIGIBLE?

If you could answer yes to all of the following questions, you were able to apply for the Lyfebulb Innovation Award:

  • Do you work on innovative ideas and concepts for better management of diabetes using consumer or medical devices, or healthcare IT?
  • Are you living with diabetes or have a close relative with diabetes?
  • Do you have the aspiration to develop your project and to deliver the benefit to others suffering from the same burden?
  • Are you focusing on your idea or business full-time?
  • Can you document there is a sound scientific and medical rationale for the idea?
  • Do you have a strong business case behind the idea?