JanCare Challenge

BIRAC, NASSCOM and NASSCOM Foundation launched Innovation Challenge “जनCARE” in collaboration with GCI, which is a nationwide “Discover – Design – Scale” program, envisioned to identify Innovative health-tech solutions from Start-ups for strengthening the Healthcare Delivery in India. The platform is looking for technology interventions that can create a positive impact on healthcare delivery especially the affordability, accessibility and quality of services. The affordable HealthTech solutions could potentially address the unmet needs of about 65% of population which is deprived of adequate primary health care. The challenge focuses mainly on innovations that can work in low resource settings at Public Healthcare Centres (PHCs), Community Healthcare Centres (CHCs), and Sub-Centres etc. in rural and semi-urban locations across the Nation. This late stage/commercialisation program focuses on medtech innovations.

Selected Applicants would further receive an opportunity for field validation studies in the Test Beds at pre-selected sites.

Under the JANCare Challenge so far, Expression of Interests (EoIs) were invited and reviewed for eligibility, appropriateness and adherence to the JANCare guidelines, and 53 Eligible proposals have been shortlisted for the technical assessment and jury presentation round. In the beginning, the BIRAC, GCI, and NF team members apprised the committee about the JANCare challenge; launch and the support to be provided to the applicants selected. The committee was also guided about the evaluation parameters for evaluating the presentations. These included; Novelty, Technology Readiness Level and applicability, Deployability and Scalability of the solution, Ease of training the medical, paramedical and support staff, ASHA workers, AWW, ANMs etc, and whether any latest technologies like IoT, AI/ML/DL, Robotics, Drones, AR/VR/MR have been used to improve the solution.