University Mobile Health Challenge, Cape Town 2012, Next Steps Part 1
March 9, 2012 in Uncategorized
This is the logistical information page for those students teams that will be competing in the University Mobile Health Challenge in Cape Town.
FAQ page here. (updated Thursday, May 10)
GSMA Mobile Health Summit
This year’s GSMA Mobile Health Summit is scheduled from Tuesday, May 29 to Friday, June 1 in Cape Town, South Africa. We recently sent registered team leaders a request to have all of those who, if chosen, plan to travel to Cape Town to compete to fill out the following form. Please do so by Sunday, April 22 to ensure proper registration. This includes faculty advisors as well. Thanks to those that have already done so. If you have not, make sure to submit your individual info as soon as possible!
Venture Boot Camp in Cape Town
We will be hosting a pre-competition entrepreneurial boot camp similar to the one held in Spain. More details to come, but it is earmarked for Monday, May 28, 1pm – 5pm in the same room as the competition the following day. We highly recommend that you attend this collaborative session. The winning team from the University Mobile Challenge at Mobile World Congress admitted that they firmly think they would not have won the competition had it not been for the boot camp.
Travel Stipends
BMIC will be providing a stipend to each participating University, which is meant to cover airfare for 2 students. Each team is allowed to send 5 students and an advisor but the University must cover the airfare and hostel costs of the additional members. The size of the stipend is based on the distance of origin. Each team was awarded with a specified amount. Once you send your airfare purchase receipt, Shino will mail you one check per team in the full amount. With the exception of transportation from the airport to hostel and Monday night’s group dinner, all other expenses are non-reimbursable. We encourage you to determine whether your university has a budget to further support your means of getting to South Africa.
Housing
BMIC is arranging housing accommodations for two members from each team. You are covered from check in Sunday, May 27th until checkout Thursday, May 30th. You will staying at the Atlantic Point Backpackers Hostel. Additional teammates can book at the same hostel for the same rate. Please reference my name: Shino – Berkeley group. If you need proof of purchase for accommodations for Visa purposes, you can find that documentation here. Conversion rates in South Africa are superb right now! You will find that things are more affordable while you are down there. If you plan to arrive before Sunday or depart after Thursday, you must arrange your own accommodations. If you find that Atlantic Point is booked, contact Shino and she will provide other recommendations for safe hostels in the area.
Conference Passes
Frequently asked questions about Summit Passes:
- Beyond 2 students, will additional teammates and faculty get free passes to the mHealth summit conference? While we are limited at providing each team with two passes, we will logistically make sure that all students are able to attend the conference.
- Why do some get Gold and others get the general exhibitor passes? We wanted to make sure each team had at least one pass with full Gold member access. Unfortunately we could not obtain Gold passes for everyone. However, since you will have your own floor space on the conference show floor, it is unlikely that the team, together, will be needing full access at the same time. You can share the different passes depending on when you have free time, what you’re interested in seeing, etc. I have invited at least one member from each team to register for a gold pass.
- I realize not everyone has received an invitation to register on the GSMA website. Preference went to those that needed Visas. If you need a Visa letter, please register immediately. If you have not received an email inviting you to register, please contact me right away. I am in the progress of obtaining more passes. To those that do not require a Visa, there is no time sensitivity in acquiring your passes from GSMA. If you do not receive an invite to register by May 15, contact me and I’ll make sure you are setup.
Airfare
Stipend checks will be awarded as soon as you purchase your flights and send me your itinerary. GSMA is offering up a discount on flights here. I found, however, that purchasing the most affordable flight from Kayak of Google Flights was cheaper than using the offered discount on South African Airways. Please, if you have not purchased your tickets, do that today! Stipends were awarded based on current flight costs. The longer you wait the larger the delta between the cost of travel and the amount we are reimbursing to cover those costs!
What am I required to submit and by when?
Final presentation material must be sent to files@bmic.org by May 25. You will also be required to have a copy stored on one USB Drive and bring it with you to Cape Town. Many of you are still working on your pitch/slide decks and demo videos. This is okay. You will likely make more changes even after Monday’s bootcamp. Please just send me your most updated version before May 25. We can work out further changes to pitch decks Monday night at our group dinner. You are not required to submit any final executive summary or business plan. Only materials you are using during your presentation are required. Despite the promise of wifi, you must not rely on internet access for your presentation. All demos must be canned or pre-recorded. All pitches must be able to run on any PC or Mac. If your application runs on a simulator, pre-record the walk through of your product. Lastly, I will need the following. You can provide this at anytime from now until the competition.
- A head shot of you.
- Team photo!
- Short (100 – 200 word) student bio
- Your most up to date resume. Our sponsors past, present and future are deeply interested in the pool of talent from our competitions.
- All submissions of any attachment should be emailed to files@bmic.org. This includes expense receipts, student pictures, bios, presentation materials, videos. If any attachments are too big, let me know. You can also cc: info@bmic.org if you need me to see the attachment as well.
Judging and competition format
The University Mobile Health Challenge will take place on Tuesday, May 29th from 9am – 3pm. There will be visual and audio support for teams and judges. Through a randomized process, the presentation order will be announced after boot camp. Judges will determine winners through a non-points based group deliberation. They will also provide each team with feedback forms on three key areas:
- How well did the team articulate the value proposition of their application?
- What are the problems you see with their application? What did they not address? What would prevent them from getting funded?
- How can the team improve their application or presentation?’
Due to the number of teams we have competing, pitches have been reduced down from 10 minutes to 7 minutes, with 3 minutes of Q&A from judges. The reduced time limit of 6 minutes was used at the competition held in Barcelona back in March, and it turned out to be much more effective with team presentations and the delivery of their pitch.
Since you won’t know the lineup order until Monday night, prepare as if you were presenting first or pitching last! Please remember to conceal which university you are representing, whether it be presentation slides or clothing. We encourage this obfuscation, so that judging remains as fair and unbiased as possible.
Meet, Greet and Help Each Other
The hostel will be buzzing with at least 30 students. Introduce yourselves as you are checking in to stay. The process leading up to Tuesday is just as much of a learning experience as the actual competition. Last year’s finalists bonded, explored the city together, learned from each other and made life long connections. You are all leaders in entrepreneurship, so I encourage you to make the best of your time in South Africa and really get to know each other.
Amazing Opportunities Ahead
With the support of GSMA, finalists that are selected to compete in Cape Town have some fantastic opportunities to look forward to. Each finalist will be awarded a conference pass, valued at $1000USD, which will give you access to the open networking receptions throughout and the summit itself. More event information can be found here. You will have official space on the main exhibition floor to demo and pitch your application at the conference! This is an incredible opportunity to have a booth presence to meet other exhibitors, mobile and medical industry leaders. Your names, university logos and profile will be included in the Event Guide and will be displayed on your booth.
Happtique, Inc., the largest provider of mHealth Application Stores to Hospitals and Clinicians in the world, provides a cloud-based software-as-a-service that allows healthcare professionals to effectively browse and locate apps for Apple, Android, and HTML-5 enabled devices. As part of the GSMA Mobile Health University Challenge, Happtique will be providing a free listing of each submitted app into the Happtique Professional Application Store which can then be freely browsed using the happtique mHealth app catalog. Additionally, Happtique’s recently announced blue-ribbon panel will soon publish an open standard for the certification of mHealth apps as being both technically and medically sound. Each team participating in the challenge will receive a free mHealth app certification when this service is available.
Visas and Vaccinations
Most nationalities do not require a visa to enter South Africa. Check to make sure your passport is valid, does not expire within 6 months of May 2012 and has at least two empty pages for stamp endorsements. For a list of visa requirements per nationality see the South Africa Department of Home Affairs site. Review any vaccinations required by your home country. Some informative links about immunizations for those traveling to South Africa:
*************Update to Team Finalists, Tuesday, April 24, 2012**************
- Click here to go to the Mobile Health Summit registration website
- Click on the Begin New Registration button
- INSERT CODE HERE and paste into the code field of the code that I provided you. Do not use anyone else’s code, or provide your code to your team mates. We have allotted teams with one gold and one exhibitor.
- Fill in ALL mandatory fields marked with a * red star
- Click on Continue
- Follow the registration through to the end. Use the email address that you provided me via the google docs form.
- pre-arranged 2 members from each team at Atlantic Point Backpackers Hostel, available to check in
- look for Ken Singer, Executive Director of BMIC or Shino Jomoto. We’ll have name tags and signs posted. Get situated. There is a large common area to meet each other, ask questions, work on your pitches, wifi available.
- Boot Camp, time is tentatively from 1pm – 4pm
- Dinner and Pre-Competition Meeting 7pm – 9pm, bring final presentations to this get together, location TBD, announce pitching order, answer questions
- Competition Time!
- 1pm Lunch Served, vegetarian options available, buffet style
- Exhibition floor booth duty, explore the conference, teammates must share conference passes. Rest assured, BMIC will help with access logistics.
COMPETITION VIDEOS FROM BARCELONA
Stephen Lake said on March 10, 2012
Hello,
I haven’t received any information over email. Can you please verify the address you have on record? I’m from the University of Waterloo, ‘Playfit’ group.
Thanks,
Stephen Lake