Engineering World Health

In August of 2009, EWH launched an annual design competition that is unique in being directed at the needs of developing country health care. Hot on the heels of the success of the initial iterations (c.f. right column for past winners), EWH continues to accept new submissions for the competition each academic year. 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 for 2013!

Participating teams are 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. Indeed, the Teams can choose to work with any organization from the global health community to help them identify one or more challenges in providing health care in developing countries that appear suited to a technology solution. 

As an EWH partner and sponsor of the EWH Design Competition, National Instruments is making NI LabVIEW and other NI hardware and software products available to teams that will use them to design, prototype, or test their entry. Please contact us for more information about this opportunity.

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