Organisers of the Care Innovation Challenge are thrilled that the competition is heading back to its home at Coventry University this June. Applications for this creative competition, which seeks to develop new solutions to the biggest challenges facing the care sector, are open now and budding innovators have until 31st May to enter. 

The Innovation Weekend will again return to the Technocentre at Coventry University, a space dedicated to nurturing the start-up and development of innovation-led, high-growth, knowledge-based businesses and will take place on 29th and 30th June.

Applications are welcomed from individuals or teams and participants do not have to currently work in care or have experience of working in the sector – they just need to be aged 18 or over, be innovative thinkers with a desire to think collaboratively towards solutions that will help people in receipt of care, and who just want to make a difference!

Applicants who get through the initial selection process will be invited to the Innovation Weekend – two days of idea generation and prototype trialling where they will receive mentoring from industry experts, sector leaders and experts by experience. At the end of the weekend each applicant will pitch their idea and the best five will be selected to receive funding and further mentoring to prepare them to take part in the final, which is voted for by delegates at The Care Show Birmingham in October 2024. The winning team will receive £1,000 in prize money and further mentoring to develop a viable business.

Previous winner, Elizabeth Beh said: “The experience itself is so worthwhile, especially with the mentoring that you receive and the contacts that you meet. I would urge people to come to the Challenge with an open mind – it’s not about winning or making lots of money. It’s for those people who genuinely want to make a difference in the care sector.”

There are always big issues to think about in care, workforce, funding and access to care being just a few of them but this year the NCF team are broadening the scope of what’s possible by encouraging applicants and mentors to consider:

• changing demography and the additional demands on social care that this will bring
• the potential of tech and generative AI and the best ways to harness these developments
• environmentally sustainable innovations to help the ‘greening’ of the care sector
• new approaches to workforce in light of restrictions on international recruitment and new workforce pathway for social care

New partner, Colligo Labs are looking forward to joining the Challenge this year and bringing a huge array of knowledge and ideas around data and analytics which is bound to inspire those bring young minds to think bigger in their innovations.

Visit https://careinnovationhub.org.uk/challenge/ to register now and we could be seeing you in the summer for a weekend of exciting innovation!