Support for parents of children with eating disorders

Seven innovative ideas for the health of children and families and the exciting question: which start-up will win over the jury? Young founders competed for a total of 11,000 euros at the 9th Witten Prize for Health Visionaries organised by Witten/Herdecke University (UW/H). In the end, three start-ups scored particularly well with their innovative ideas for family medicine.

The start-up "Aidable" won twice over with its online service for parents of children with eating disorders. Training videos give parents an insight into the thoughts and feelings of their child from the perspective of a former sufferer. Anne Reisig and her team won first place in the competition and prize money of 5,000 euros as well as the audience award, which was endowed with 1,000 euros this year.

Second place and 3,000 euros in prize money went to "Trackle". The start-up, co-founded by Katrin Reuter, has developed a temperature sensor that women can use to identify fertile days. A sensor records the temperature overnight and analyses the data automatically.

Third place with prize money of 2,000 euros went to the start-up "Kinderheldin". Through online courses on topics such as birth preparation, regression, complementary feeding and language development, certified midwives and medical experts support young families from pregnancy to the third year of their child's life, thereby closing a gap in care.

In addition to the prize money and media attention, the participating start-ups also benefit from networking with other young companies, health insurance company representatives, sponsors and university students and researchers. The winners also have the opportunity to position themselves as a flagship project in ATLAS Digital Health Management.

About the Witten Prize for Healthcare Visionaries

For the ninth time, the Witten Prize for Healthcare Visionaries was planned and organised by a team of students, this year by Merle Bösken-Diebels (General Management), Maik Möller (General Management), Celia Kunkel (Medicine), Björn Gostmann (General Management) and Lisa Kettler (Medicine). The competition was launched in 2015 by Prof Dr Sabine Bohnet-Joschko, holder of the Chair of Management and Innovation in Health Care at UW/H.

The jury for this year's prize was made up of Prof Dr Sabine Bohnet-Joschko (Witten/Herdecke University), Stephan Kohorst (Dr Ausbüttel & Co. GmbH), Gerrit Gnisa (EnjoyVenture Management GmbH), Prof Dr Boris Zernikow (Witten/Herdecke University), Dr Christopher Vauth (AOK), Ulrich Adler (Techniker Krankenkasse). The prize money of 11,000 euros is donated by the university's sponsorship organisation.