MSD is looking for innovators to solve 7 health-related challenges aiming to support physician education or patient disease management. The 3 digital solutions with the most outstanding value will receive up to $20,000 each to be launched in a local market. MSD will also work side by side with the winning solvers to facilitate the roll-out of their solution.

As a leading pharmaceutical company, MSD is aware of the need to incorporate innovation to deliver the best possible value. However, the best ideas may not always pop up where challenges are identified. That is why MSD wants to support and partner with external talent to collaboratively develop competitive solutions following a win-win-win approach.

How it works

The Innovation Factory initiative aims to give support to the companies that come up with the best ideas to solve one of the 7 challenges identified in the EEMEA Region (Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa) by local MSD teams.

The selection is done in four steps:

• Solutions submitted before 31st October are reviewed by the challenge owners (the local MSD teams).
• Each country will select the best solution for its proposed challenge.
• During co-creation sessions the selected company and the local MSD team will work together in an improved proposal to be jointly presented in a Final event.
• At the Final event in January 2018, the 7 finalists will pitch their solution in front of a senior jury from MSD. The jury will award 3 winners.

The prizes

Each of the 3 winners will receive the following:

• Up to $20,000 to pilot their solution in the challenge-related local market.
• Support from MSD local team to connect with the local ecosystem (eg. medical professional associations), deal with potential regulatory issues and disseminate leveraging MSD local channels. It will also contribute with expertise and business know-how.
• If the local launch is a success after 12 months, its outcomes will be globally shared within MSD to investigate further implementation beyond the initial market.

All 7 finalists will get a 500€ grant to cover travel expenses to attend the Final event in Istanbul, and the opportunity to optimize their proposal in collaboration with the local MSD team that proposed the challenge. They will also receive visibility through the initiative communication channels.

The 7 challenges in a nutshell

The local teams have highlighted 7 needs of healthcare professionals or patients that could be solved with the support of digital technologies. A brief description of them follows:

Diabetes Guru - Egypt

Provide healthcare professionals dealing with diabetes with a (digital) solution that facilitates access to updated information on diabetes management and/or to perform related calculations.

GAP Pro - Gulf

Aid healthcare professionals to better prescribe antibiotics to their patients while fighting against Antimicrobial Resistance.

Managing Pain - Iraq

Help physicians to better support their patients with pain.

Diabetes Coach - Saudi Arabia

Assist Type-2 diabetic patients to better manage their disease, including their adherence to medication and lifestyle changes.

InfoVacc - South Africa

Launch a digital solution that helps parents to manage their children's vaccination calendar.

AnesTouch - Turkey

Support anaesthesiologists with their continuous education (e.g. at the operation room) or their team building with surgeons.

InnoBooth - Ukraine

Try innovative proposals for attracting visitors to the MSD booth and deliver them a memorable and informative experience at clinical conferences.

Submit your solution or solutions, in case you apply for more than one challenge. Applications will be reviewed and one finalist per challenge will be selected. Application ends 31 October.

About the MSD Innovation Factory
Since 2016 the MSD Innovation Factory has been established as an open innovation vehicle for the EEMEA (Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa) region with the main objective of finding co-creation opportunities with external partners to deliver sustainable solutions for our patients and customers.

MSD is a global healthcare company with a 125-year history of working to make a difference. MSD´s vision is to make a difference in the lives of people globally through our innovative medicines, vaccines, and animal health products. We are committed to being the premier, research-intensive biopharmaceutical company and are dedicated to providing leading innovations and solutions for today and the future.

The Innovation Factory is supported by TICBioMed, a business association specialized digital health.