Apr 2
2019
MAD*POW’s Center For Health Experience Launch Design Challenge To Improve Health Using Technology
Mad*Pow’s Center for Health Experience Design and Health 2.0 Advocates announce a design challenge, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, for the health and design communities to envision solutions that would reshape everyday life to be healthier by default. The focus of this Design Challenge is to imagine how, in the near future, technology might be used to make health a part of our daily routines.
“Our systems have made it hard to be healthy, and our healthcare system can’t keep up. The United States spends far more on healthcare than any country in the world but achieves disappointing results in comparison,” said Amy Heymans (Cueva), Mad*Pow founder and chief experience officer. “How might we design the systems we use every day so they support us in being as happy and healthy as possible, instead of worn down, stressed out, and sick? This Design Challenge seeks the most creative minds to imagine solutions that improve health, not just by focusing on healthcare and medicine, but also by taking a new look at the fundamentals of our daily lives.”
Design Challenge entries should include ideas that are feasible in five to ten years, change the environment to a healthier default, and incorporate multiple technologies or components. A Q&A webinar is scheduled for May 29, 2019, at Noon ET.
Interested participants should register by May 27, 2019, to receive more information about challenge requirements, criteria, rules, and deadlines. Final submissions will be due on August 31, 2019 by 11:59 PM ET. A panel of judges, including Vanessa Mason from Institute for the Future, Judith Anderson from Mass College of Art & Design, Stacey Chang from Dell Medical School, Allison Arieff from SPUR and the New York Times, Jeff Rison from the Gehl Institute, and Amy Heymans from Mad*Pow, will choose two winning solutions: one design that targets specific healthy behaviors and one design that envisions broad, systemic change. These two winning entries will be announced on Oct. 16, 2019, and will share up to $10,000 in prizes.
“Many of the tech industry’s early attempts to encourage healthy lifestyles rely on prompting people to make healthy decisions in the moment, while doing nothing to address the underlying infrastructure, norms, and culture that guide our behavior,” said Stephen Downs, chief technology and strategy officer, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “This Design Challenge will encourage creative thinkers to envision how technology could shape our everyday routines in ways that make healthy lifestyles the default.”
For more information on the Design Challenge, visit: https://www.centerhxd.com/collaborations/health-x-design-building-health-into-everyday-life/