Students compete for $60,000 in prizes at Games4Health Challenge
Students from around the globe will converge in the University of Utah’s Union Ballroom on March 30 in hopes that their innovative idea will provide a transformative health experience — and help them net a share of $60,000 worth of prizes.
The Games4Health Challenge is a global design competition that challenges students and their teams to design a game or app that promotes health. Students compete in several categories including Happy Fitness, Corporate Wellness, Clinical, Chronic Disease, Mental Health and both Virtual and Augmented Reality. Each one offers awards for first, second and third place, with $5,000, $3,000 and $1,000 corresponding cash prizes. All categories are eligible for the Super Category prize, sponsored by Samsung, which includes $10,000 and the possibility of having the product commercialized. The competition is hosted by the Sorensen Center for Discovery & Innovation at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business.
“We are excited to host the world’s largest game and app student competition focused on health and wellbeing,” said Chris Wasden, executive director of the Sorensen Center. “We expect to have nearly 500 students from around the world compete for $60,000 in prize money. We also will be giving out four Level Up Awards to previous competitors who have published their game or app since our last Games4Health Challenge. Our competition helps students launch themselves into the world of entrepreneurship.”
The awards are presented at an invitation-only banquet, but students will demonstrate their games and apps at the Arcade the afternoon of March 30 from noon to 3 p.m. MDT in the Union Ballroom. The public — as well as experts from the corporate sector and Eccles School faculty — will try out the apps and give students feedback. High school educators are also invited to bring their classes, and dozens of students are expected to attend.
About Games4Health
Games4Health is sponsored by the Sorenson Center for Discovery & Innovation at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business in association with the Center for Medical Innovation at the Health Science Department and Entertainment and Arts Engineering at the School of Computing. The 2017 Games4Health competition is sponsored by Samsung, MetLife, Happify, SocialWellth/DHX, GE Healthcare, BD, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Infuse Medical, O.C. Tanner and Stryker.
About the David Eccles School of Business
The Eccles School is synonymous with ‘doing.’ The Eccles experience provides a world-class business education with a unique, entrepreneurial focus on real-world scenarios where students put what they learn into practice long before graduation. Founded in 1917 and educating more than 6,000 students annually, the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business offers eight undergraduate majors, four MBAs, seven other graduate programs, a Ph.D. in seven areas and executive education curricula. The School is also home to eight institutes, centers and initiatives that deliver academic research and support an ecosystem of entrepreneurship and innovation. For more information, visit Eccles.Utah.edu or call 801-581-7676.
