Continua Health Alliance Supports GSMA Mobile Health University Challenge; Releases Free Design Guidelines

BEAVERTON, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Continua Health Alliance, an international not-for-profit organization of healthcare and technology companies dedicated to establishing guidelines on how to combine and apply existing standards to create interoperable personal connected health products and services, today announced it will make its 2011 Public Design Guidelines available free of charge to university students as part of its commitment to support the 2011-2012 GSMA Mobile Health University Challenge.

“Continua is excited to support GSMA’s Mobile Health University Challenge”

GSMA’s University Challenge appeals to students who want to make a difference in the world by pioneering mobile health concepts, applications, and devices that address a healthcare need within wellness, awareness, diagnosis, treatment and monitoring, clinician support tools and health information systems.

“Collaboration between industry and academia helps drive innovation,” said Clint McClellan, Continua Board President and Sr. Dir. of Market Development, Wireless Health, Qualcomm, Inc. “Involving academic institutions, and their students who will become talented developers and entrepreneurs, in the development process, is a vital step toward fostering and enhancing the global ecosystem of personal connected healthcare.”

GSMA has launched the 2011-2012 GSMA Mobile Health University Challenge, inviting students worldwide to create an m-health idea to focus on a specific healthcare need to be presented as either a business concept or technology development.

Students will have access to Continua Design Guidelines that will help them build end-to-end systems and provide much easier sensor connectivity with hubs and phones. They will be able to incorporate a large number of medical devices with much less effort than previous implementations by utilizing Low Power Radio Profiles, developed in conjunction with Continua, that include required levels of security for health applications.

“Having access to Continua’s Guidelines will allow this year’s University Challenge participants the opportunity to accelerate their application development because they will be able to rapidly integrate a wide variety of Continua-compliant health and medical devices,” said Jeanine Vos, Head of Mobile Health, GSMA. “We’re excited to see what they come up with.”

University Challenge entrants will be whittled down to a top ten, of which two members from each team will be invited with expenses paid to attend the GSMA expo for the chance to win up to $5,000 worth of guidance for their project.

The chosen students will showcase their presentations at the GSMA mHealth Alliance Mobile Health Summit 2012, held at Cape Town International Convention Centre, Cape Town, South Africa, May 29th - June 1st 2012.

“Continua is excited to support GSMA’s Mobile Health University Challenge,” said McClellan. “Nurturing a relationship between academia and industry helps enable a collaborative system of interoperable healthcare technologies, increasing consumer choice and value by improving quality and driving down cost, core components of Continua’s mission.”

About Continua Health Alliance:

Continua Health Alliance is an international not-for-profit industry organization dedicated to establishing guidelines for combining and applying existing standards to personal connected health products and services. Continua makes possible a transition from the personal connected health marketplace to a marketplace of interoperable devices that facilitate better care, empower consumers, improve outcomes and lower overall healthcare costs. With more than 240 member companies around the world, Continua is comprised of technology, medical device and healthcare industry leaders as well as service providers dedicated to making personal connected health a reality. For more information visit: www.continuaalliance.org.