Prudential Thailand announces top five winners of 'HealthHack'
Bangkok, Thailand, 6 July, 2021 – Prudential Life Assurance (Thailand) Public Company Limited (Prudential Thailand) is pleased to announce the top five winners of its innovative 'HealthHack' competition, an artificial intelligence (AI)-focused hackathon which challenged participants to develop technology solutions that help Thai people live healthier.
Sponsored by Pulse by Prudential, the “HealthHack” competition offered Thai innovators to show their health-tech capability through their innovative solutions for one of the two hackathon problem statements: “Non-invasive diagnosis of a health condition” such as mental disorder and cardiovascular diseases, or “Modifying an unhealthy behaviour” such as bad diet habit. The solutions needed to leverage AI capabilities to perform diagnosis through smartphones, wearables or imaging.
Mr. Robin Spencer, Chief Executive Officer of Prudential Thailand, said, “The 'HealthHack' competition is a testament to the company’s purpose to help Thai people get the most out of life through co-creating digital health solutions that empower people to improve their health and wellness. The competition served as a platform for Thai innovators to present their inspiring solutions and encouraged fruitful dialogues between the contestants and our team of mentors with expertise in the health and technology sectors.”
The two-day event, which took place on 29 and 30 May, attracted 70 participants from 16 teams [across the country] to present their solutions through a virtual event. This event was exclusively mentored by a team of Prudential Thailand experts, including Silicon Valley AI veteran Michael Natusch, supported by creative and branding experts and global healthcare professionals. The top five teams received cash prizes and rewards valued at a total of 250,000 baht.
Team “NCDs Solution” took the first prize for its “Fit Sloth” obesity solution which tracks calories intake and provides AI-driven, personalised diet suggestions and food delivery options. Team “Shabu Mhookata” was awarded the second prize for its “Heartbose” solution that helps people detect potential strokes or heart murmurs. Team “Medical Valley” was awarded the third prize for developing an innovative solution that assesses health conditions via urine photographs. Teams “FastDoc” and “DiagFist” were among the top five for their solutions that can detect office syndrome via image analysis of sitting postures, and the risk of strokes in patients through facial recognition and surveillance.
The contestants were evaluated based on the level of innovation, user experience and interface design, as well as technological techniques employed to build the target feature. The participants went to go through rounds of commentaries and practice presentations with their mentors, which resulted in their solutions adjusted based on their mentor’s feedback. Sahussawud Khunruksa from Team 6 Medical Valley, said, “The hacking advice received from mentors about our sample was so meaningful and invaluable to our product development. It inspires us to continue to give 100% effort and work for a better tomorrow.”
Ms. Susan Fanning, Chief Health and Wellbeing Officer of Prudential Thailand, applauded the teams for their hard work. “Thank you to all participants for joining our hackathon and working together to make Thailand a healthier place. All the teams did a great job of listening to and pivoting their ideas based on mentors’ feedback, which is often easier said than done.”
ABOUT PRUDENTIAL IN THAILAND
Prudential has operated in Thailand for more than 25 years through Prudential Life Assurance (Thailand) Public Company Limited. Prudential serves more than 1.6 million customers in Thailand and manages more than Thai Baht 112 billion of assets on their behalf. In 2020 the Thailand business grew IFRS operating profits by 23 per cent to USD 203 million and Life Weighted Premium by 8 per cent to USD 667 million. (31 December 2020 figures).
ABOUT PULSE BY PRUDENTIAL
Pulse by Prudential is an all-in-one digital health app and the first-of-its-kind in the region to offer holistic health management to consumers. Using AI-powered self-help tools and real-time information, the app serves as a 24/7 health and wellness partner to users, helping them prevent, postpone, and protect against the onset of diseases. Pulse is part of Prudential’s region-wide strategy to provide affordable and accessible healthcare to everyone across Asia by leveraging digital technologies and best-in-class partnerships.
Following the regional launch of Pulse in Malaysia in August 2019, Pulse is now available in a total of 11 markets and includes a growing suite of value-add services, such as a symptom checker and health assessment, personal wellness services, and video consultations with certified doctors and specialists.
Since its launch, Pulse has been downloaded for more than 26 million times in Asia to date. Pulse is currently available on the Apple/Google Play stores in Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
For more information, and to download Pulse, log onto www.wedopulse.com.