Foundations offer $2 million challenge for innovative use of health data

Four charitable foundations in healthcare and one in journalism will participate in a $2 million contest to spark innovative uses of healthcare data.

“Health is an area where journalism, open data and public information overlap, giving us a direct, tangible opportunity to help people learn more and make smart choices through the use of technology and data,” Michael Maness, vice president for journalism and media innovation at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, said in a news release. The charity is named for the founders of the former Knight-Ridder chain of newspapers.

Participating with it are four charitable organizations heavily involved in healthcare—the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the California HealthCare Foundation, the Clinton Foundation and the Health Data Consortium. They will contribute their expertise “to help frame the challenge question and tap into current community needs in health,” and to “help with outreach, and reviewing the entries once the challenge closes,” according to the announcement.

The contest starts on Aug. 19 with an opening, online “inspiration” phase “when anyone can identify needs, share success stories, post data sets, contribute ideas.” The challenge will be open for entries Sept. 3 through 17. More details about the contest are available at a blog post on the Knight Foundation website.

In January, eight awardees were announced, splitting $2.4 million in prizes, for the Knight Foundation's 2012 contest that focused on mobile ventures.

Follow Joseph Conn on Twitter: @MHJConn