8 awards to reward innovation in the field of health and nursing

Press release, May 8, 2021: 2021 Source Challenge — D-Day

The closing ceremony of the 2021 Source Challenge Networking Event Series took place live on YouTube on Friday, May 7, from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. More than 670 people tuned into D-Day to watch project champions give flash presentations on 12 innovative solutions and to vote for their favourite. In all, 8 awards were handed out. Two teams stood out in particular by winning two each: The team of Louise Cardot, only 11 years old, who championed “Waiting Bubble”, an idea for transforming long periods in waiting rooms into a more positive experience, and the team of Alexandra Yosef, who championed “Clinical Evaluations Without Borders”, an idea for overcoming the barrier of language when providing care. All awards will provide winners with the means to transform their project into a genuine solution that will make a difference in the field of health and nursing.

The Source Challenge, a group competition for innovation in health and nursing open to the public launched on March 8, wrapped up on May 7 with final presentations and an awards presentation. Twelve teams had been selected on PITCH DAY, April 27, to take part in a BOOTCAMP that ran from the May 2 weekend through the week leading to D-DAY. Over this time, the teams modelled and prototyped their innovative solutions and honed their pitches down to four minutes with the help of a team of coaching experts for an online presentation. Their goal was to persuade a jury of experts and the general public to vote for their solution as their favourite. At stake were eight awards that would enable them to follow through on their idea.

The aim of the Source Challenge was to explore a field of innovation as of yet under-exploited, namely, that of health and, more particularly, that of nursing, by bringing together and supporting people with a variety of profiles—specialists, students, service users, and family carers—to come up with innovative solutions collaboratively. La Source and all of its partners are proud to have achieved the objectives that they had set for the event and are pleased to follow the progress of the various projects developed over the course of this first edition of the Source Challenge.

Recipients

Jury Award

Project: Évaluation clinique sans frontières. Pour que la barrière de la langue ne soit plus un frein à des soins de qualité (Clinical evaluations without borders: removing language as a barrier to quality care)

Project Champion: Alexandra Yosef

Teammates: Charlotte Broccard, Semira Ibrahim, Catherine Mialet, Jean-Alexis Montignies, Rim Teklay, Felicia Vuilleumier

This prize is presented to the project whose proposed solution best met the criteria of desirability, feasibility and viability from a nursing, innovation and business angle. Awarded by a jury of experts, it was offered jointly by GENILEM and the Source Innovation Lab (SILAB).

It includes:

  • assistance creating a business from an idea, that is, entrepreneurial mentoring (service offered by GENILEM);
  • the possibility of testing and validating a concept in a secure clinical or pre-clinical setting (service offered by the Source Innovation Lab).

Jury members

  • Jean-Philippe Bonardi, Dean, UNIL-HEC
  • Susana Garcia, Chief Executive Officer, AVASAD
  • Nasri Nahas, Chief Executive Officer, Biopôle
  • Isabelle Lehn, Director of Care, CHUV
  • Chantal Montandon, Chief Nursing Officer, La Source Clinic
  • Cédric Zuchuat, Chief Administrative and Financial Officer, La Source Clinic
  • Maxline Stettler, Director of International Affairs, DGES, Canton of Vaud Laurence Bermejo Dubois, Head of eHealth Division, ELCA Informatique SA
  • Huber Ridolphi, Senior E-Health Manager, ELCA Informatique SA
  • Zina Singer, Head of Innovation Pole, École hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) Nicolas Henchoz, Director, EPFL and ECAL Lab
  • Catherine Aung, Head of Global Innovation Lab, Ferring Pharmaceuticals David Narr, Director, GENILEM
  • Pierre-Jean Wipff, Innovation Consultant, Life Sciences, Food & Nutrition, Innovaud
  • Jacques Chapuis, Director, La Source Institute and School of Nursing
  • Jean-Michel Chardon, Head of AI, CTO Office, and Site Leader, Logitech Vincent Grek, Global Clinical Development Lead, Nestlé Health Science René Goy, Assistant Director, Pro Senectute Vaud
  • Pierre-Mikael Legris, Chief Executive Officer, PrYv
  • Mathieu Menet, Head of Innovation, La Ruche tl
  • Benjamin Weill, Head of Accelerator & Entrepreneurship Program Manager, UNIL Ucreate Elodie Bertheuil, Principal International Regulatory & R&D Manager, VYGON
  • Marie Van Lancker, International Marketing Manager, VYGON

People’s Choice Award

Project: PicToHome. Ensemble, pour votre autonomie! (PicToHome: Together for independent living!)

Project Champion: Catherine Poidevin-Girard

Teammates: Ingrid Bonin, Grégory Cardot, Fabrice Morciano, Jean-François Richter, Christophe Serrafino

This prize is awarded for the project that receives the most votes from the general public online. It is offered jointly by GENILEM and the Source Innovation Lab.

It includes:

  • assistance creating a business from an idea, that is, entrepreneurial mentoring (service offered by GENILEM);
  • the possibility of testing and validating a concept in a secure clinical or pre-clinical setting (service offered by the Source Innovation Lab).

La Source Clinic Favourite Award

Project: Bulle d’attente. La solution en kits pour rendre l’attente utile et agréable (Waiting bubble: kits to make waits productive and pleasant)

Project Champion: Louise Cardot

Teammates: Leane Grosh, Simon Laroche, Felippe Marçal de Oliveira, Corinne Rosner Mock

This prize is awarded by the members of the jury and the La Source Clinic to the best project dedicated to patients.

It comprises project development in a clinical setting and project management, expert advice and validation in the field.

Vygon Award

Project: Évaluation clinique sans frontiers. Pour que la barrière de la langue ne soit plus un frein à des soins de qualité (Clinical evaluations without borders: removing language as a barrier to quality care)

This prize is awarded for a solution likely to reduce stress during anaesthetic procedures or more broadly addressing an issue of interest to Vygon. The recipient is determined by the members of the jury from Vygon (company operating in the field of single-use, high-tech medical devices).

It includes:

  • a trip to Ecouen (France) for Vygon site visit, all expenses paid (transportation, accommodations, meals);
  • a meeting with the Vice-President and team of the Anaesthetics & Emergencies Division to present their project at a round table;
  • a reportage on the project.

ELCA Award

Project: EpilepSim. Comprendre son épilepsie en s’amusant (EpilepSim: a fun way to learn more about epilepsy)

Project Champion: Samuel Pinto Da Silva

Teammates: Noé Barras, Mélanie Rais, Amélie Torrent, Jeff Zufferey

This prize is awarded by the ELCA jury for the best IT-based health-related project (ELCA is one of the largest independent Swiss IT service providers and a leader in the fields of IT consultancy, software development and maintenance, and system integration).

It includes:

  • a six-month internship at ELCA for the project champion (full-time, if possible) to develop the project;
  • support and supervision by a project team on aspects of IT development (DevOps, UX, technical lead, architect, management), according to the tech domain of the solution idea;
  • acculturation to agile project development methodology.

EHL Innovation Village Award

Project: Bulle d’attente. La solution en kits pour rendre l’attente utile et agréable (Waiting bubble: kits to make waits productive and pleasant)

This prize is awarded for the best project aimed at improving client services or the client experience, nutrition or operational functioning. It is voted on by the jury of the École Hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL).

It includes:

  • free access for six months to the EHL incubator and its services, including its network, professors, and students, not to mention the valorisation that the EHL incubator start-up community enjoys from the media and various partners;
  • a CHF750 gift certificate for Le Berceau des Sens gourmet restaurant to the winning team.

Surprise UNIL Entrepreneurship and Innovation HUB Award

Project: NURSE.I (previously Care & Share). La qualité des soins 3.0! Pour que le mobile devienne l’interface entre l’infirmière et le savoir (NURSE.I: quality of care 3.0 — making the smartphone the interface between nurses and knowledge)

Project Champion: Anne Willimann

Teammates: Catherine Bourguignon, Cécile Damnon, Jérôme Faure, Nicole Isler, Benjamin Suatton

The prize includes participation in a UCreate2 workshop.

PrYv Award

Project: My Heart. Une app afin d’améliorer la qualité de vie, la gestion des symptômes et le maintien à domicile pour les insuffisant·e·s cardiaques (My Heart: an app to improve quality of life, symptoms management and home support for people with heart failure)

Project Champion: Krystel Vasserot

Teammates: Vincent Mazoyer, Chiheb Said

This prize is awarded to the best project requiring patient data management. It is voted on by the PrYv jury (PrYv specialises in patient data used by care departments).

It includes:

  • a lifetime PrYv licence (“perpetual start-up”). This allows using the “Pryv.io” ready-to-use solution that provides access to a system for managing user data properly, in accordance with existing rules and regulations. This solution allows reducing risks and costs associated with development time. The licence includes the possibility to create up to 1,000 solution user accounts;
  • 16 hours of IT support;
  • 1 year of free maintenance

First edition a resounding success

For SILAB and its partners, the 2021 Source Challenge lived up to all its promises, particularly in terms of contributing to innovation in the field of nursing, which remains ill-explored to date, and stimulating entrepreneurship in population groups that, to this day, have not been involved much in innovation processes. The Source Challenge made it possible to bring together and support over several days people with highly varied profiles, including specialists, students, service users and family carers, who were able collaboratively to develop innovative projects in the fields of health and nursing.

The D-Day online event itself showed also how much innovation is a topic recognized and appreciated by the general public. By organising the Source Challenge, La Source is playing an active role in shaping the future of nursing, which is one of the major health and social challenges of the next 20 years. In her speech recorded for D-DAY, Cesla Amarelle, Councillor of State and Head of the Department of education, youth and culture, underscored most appropriately the added value that an innovation lab such as SILAB can bring.

Source Challenge in numbers

  • 169 people signed up from different backgrounds (students and professionals in the fields of health, social work, engineering, information technology, design, business, communications, entrepreneurship, care recipients, family carers, and more).
  • 48 solution ideas submitted on the dedicated platform during the START period.
  • 28 ideas presented on PITCH DAY, March 27. 12 were selected to pursue the course further.
  • 20 coaching experts provided support to the 12 teams in the running during the prototyping, modelling and prepping stage leading to D-DAY
  • 23 expert jury members
  • 672 persons attended D-DAY online
    644 votes cast online for the People’s Choice Award
  • nearly 1,600 views of the D-DAY video

Support from many sources

The Source Challenge was fortunate to be able to count on the invaluable support of numerous players, including the Canton of Vaud, Networking Event Series powered by Innosuisse, PrYv, the UNIL Entrepreneurship and Innovation Hub, La Ruche, the EHL Innovation Village, Vygon, ELCA, SODIMED, abionic, GENiLEM, and the La Source Clinic.

Through the Source Challenge, the La Source Institute and School of Nursing is perpetuating the innovative spirit encoded in its DNA and contributing actively to finding solutions to the health and social challenges to come. The event was also a way for La Source to mark the end of the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, which the World Health Organization had launched in May 2020.

Source Innovation Lab (SILAB) in brief

La Source created SILAB in 2018 at the Beaulieu site to spur on innovation. It is driven by a team entirely dedicated to developing original and fruitful collaborations with the different players and stakeholders de innovative projects in the field of health and more particularly in the field of nursing.

SILAB welcomes companies, institutions and people that wish to develop and test innovative ideas, concepts, and prototypes under the most secure conditions possible. All benefit not only from the modern infrastructures of a hyper-realistic simulated hospital but also from the specialised skills of health and teaching experts, La Source researchers, and clinical, academic and industrial partners.

For information

Dominique TRUCHOT-CARDOT, Head of SILAB, d.truchot-cardot(at)ecolelasource.ch