Proposals are currently being accepted by The William Osler Health System for the Kiss my App contest. Courtesy William Osler Health System
By Kara Matthews
The William Osler Health System has launched a national mobile app contest, Kiss My App, for college and university students across the country.
Cara Francis, Manager of Public Relations and Digital Communications for the health system, said they’re looking for apps that will improve patient care and benefit families and visitors. They are keeping the description broad to encourage student creativity.
“We want them to play off their own experiences with health care,” Francis told Humber News. “They should target a specific program in the hospital system.”
Joanne Yeung, Team Leader of Digital Media for The William Osler Health System, which includes three hospitals in the GTA, said the competition was opened to student developers for creative purposes.
“Industry professionals usually have set ideas of what healthcare apps should be,” Yeung said. “We wanted to push and go beyond what’s traditional.
Yeung said students have a good, working knowledge of the industry, and a modern education in mobile app development. They have the potential to bring something new to the table, being relatively unfamiliar with the healthcare system.
“We want to tap into the creativity and out of the box ideas students might have,” Yeung told Humber News. “We want something crazy.”
Francis said students can work as individuals or in teams. The competition will happen in two phases. Written proposals can be submitted between now and Nov. 1, at which point the top five pitches will be chosen. The design and development stage will happen between December and February. Contestants will present their finished apps in March 2014.
Yeung said the experience for students will be invaluable in the industry, but said they added another incentive to encourage students to get involved.
“We’re offering a $10,000 prize to the winning individual or team,” Yeung said.