ZS PRIZE launched to advance healthcare innovation in India

Students and entrepreneurs can shape the future of healthcare in India through a six-month competition featuring a jury including Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Ravi Venkatesan, and Sangita Reddy, among others 

ZS, a global professional services firm announced ZS PRIZE to help innovators solve for India’s healthcare challenges of availability, accessibility and affordability.

A grand prize winner plus seven additional teams will be selected by a panel of judges and industry experts. The top eight teams will share an Rs 1 crore prize purse. ZS PRIZE is open to students (graduates and postgraduates from any discipline) and professionals from the start-up, enterprise and NGO sectors of India.

Launching October 28, 2020, ZS PRIZE will accept registrations which can either be ideas or solution prototypes, through December 21, 2020. The top 20 selected teams, evaluated on pre-defined criteria, will go through a six-week mentorship with ZS leaders between January and February 2021. The top eight teams out of the 20, will then present their solutions to the jury in March 2021.

With the theme of ‘shaping the future of health and healthcare in India by creating innovative and transformative solutions leveraging data, analytics and technology’, ZS PRIZE will invite participants from any stream to solve for their fellow citizens’ challenges for easily available and inexpensive healthcare solutions.

The independent jury includes accomplished visionaries in healthcare, venture capital, academic and business sectors like:

• Ravi Venkatesan, Former Chairman of Microsoft India, ZS PRIZE Jury Chairman
• Dr. Dipak Jain,  President & Professor at China Europe International Business School, Former Dean of Kellogg School of Management
• Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Executive Chairperson, Biocon
• Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals
• Sandeep Singhal, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Nexus Venture Partners
• Dr Ferzaan Engineer, CEO, CyteCare Hospitals; Member of the Board of Directors of Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company and Cytespace Research
• Dr Vijay Chandru, Co-Founder & Chairman, Strand Life Sciences
• Prof. K. Srinath Reddy, President, Public Health Foundation of India