At the EWH Conference in August of 2009, EWH launched an annual design competition that will be unique in being directed at the needs of developing country health care. To be eligible to enter the competition, a university must have an EWH chapter in good standing. There are cash prizes for winning teams, and we are now accepting applications.

Universities and colleges will be invited to create a multi-disciplinary Innovation Team that brings engineering students from the EWH chapter and industry engineers together with expertise in industrial design, social entrepreneurism, business planning, etc. The Teams will work with a client from the global health community who will identify one or more challenges in providing health care in developing countries that appear suited to a technology solution. Working with the client over several months, the Teams will design and bench-test a solution, prepare prototypes for field trials in a developing country and a business plan for further development of the product.

EWH has structured the competition to achieve the following:

• Develop technical solutions that contribute to improved health care in developing countries
• Promote biomedical engineering to the international health NGO community
• Provide opportunities for students to learn about global health issues and problem identification, develop design, communication and teamwork skills, and learn about other cultures
• Encourage and strengthen EWH chapters and their continuity
• Promote public-private partnerships in biomedical engineering design for the developing world and expose students to industry discipline and approaches