Student teams from around the world competed for $60,000 in prizes in this year’s Games4Health competition, managed by the Sorenson Center for Discovery & Innovation at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business.
The competition concluded on March 31, during a public Arcade that showcased nearly two dozen of the 70 innovative games designed and developed by students. In the evening, the Gala honored all the winners and had a global leader in health gaming, Michael Fergusson, the CEO of Ayogo, provide a keynote address on the positive impact health games can have on health and wellness.
This year’s competition focused on five challenges: corporate wellness, happy fitness, clinical health, chronic diseases and adolescent mental wellbeing. 121 teams and 300 students from across the world came together this year to create innovative gaming solutions that impact health through successful behavioral change. The teams came from 18 states, 71 universities, and 12 countries including South Korea, Australia, Portugal, Brazil, China and others. Games4Health is truly a global effort to deliver health through consumer technologies of our day.
Teams competed for $60,000 in prizes in the annual Games4Health competition at the University of Utah.
The $5,000 first-place winners for this year’s five challenges were:
- Happy Fitness Challenge – SocialWellth, OnTrack, Carengie Mellon University
- Corporate Wellness Challenge – MetLife Renaissance Astronaut University of Utah, Arizona State University
- Clinical Health Challenge – GE Healthcare, MediGarden, University of Utah
- Chronic Disease Challenge – Regence-Utah, Carb Commander, University of Utah
- Adolescent Mental Wellbeing – iThirve, ShapeQuest, University of Amsterdam
The 14 other second place ($2,500), third place ($1000), and ‘Best Of” ($1000) winners came from University of Texas Health Science Center, University of Utah, Bradley University, Brigham Young University, University of New Brunswick, Washington State University and Abertay University.
Games4Health was made possible this year by generous title sponsors SocialWellth and MetLife and challenge sponsors iThrive, Regence – Utah, and GE Healthcare. Their support and shared vision have brought the Games4Health community together to make lasting impact in the lives of students.
KeyNote: Michael Fergusson
During the Games4Health Gala Michael Fergusson, CEO of Ayogo Health Inc., offered his experience and wisdom from a career of gamifying patient engagement. He highlighted the counterintuitive nature of today’s healthcare delivery and the unique ability for games to drive natural behavioral change and achieve improved health. More details on winners and a recording of the Gala with Keynote Michael Fergusson can be found at g4h.business.utah.edu.
About The Games4Health Challenge
The Games4Health Challenge is an annual collaboration of the Sorenson Center for Discovery & Innovation at the David Eccles School, the Entertainment Arts and Engineering Program (an interdisciplinary program between the College of Engineering and the College of Fine Arts), and the Center for Medical Innovation at the University of Utah Medical School.
About Sorenson Center for Discovery & Innovation
The Sorenson Center for Discovery & Innovation provides experiential learning experience for students from across the University of Utah to help them develop their creative genius. The Center’s Management Consulting Experience Program provides the student associates with opportunities to help client organization innovate their technologies and business models. The Center also helps mentor and coach students with their own inventions, innovations and ventures and provides educational programs and courses in innovation and technology strategy. The Center also runs challenges like the Games4Health Challenge to help promote creativity and innovation.
About the David Eccles School of Business
Founded in 1917 and educating more than 4,500 students annually, the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah offers eight undergraduate majors, four MBAs, five other graduate programs, a Ph.D. program and executive education curricula. The Eccles School is also home to eight institutes and centers that deliver academic research and support an ecosystem of entrepreneurship and innovation. It is consistently one of the top schools in the nation for startup businesses based on university research. Experiential learning is central to the Eccles experience. For more information, visit Eccles.Utah.edu or call 801-581-7676.
