In this episode of Talking HealthTech, Peter Birch speaks with Leon Young, Founder of Cogniss, Dr Sarah Hanieh, paediatrician and public health researcher, Professor Caroline Donovan, clinical psychologist at Griffith University, and Adjunct Professor Annette Schmiede.

The episode covers the 2025 Priority Digital Health Challenge, delivered by Cogniss AWS and the Validatron, supported by the AIDH, the Digital Health CRC, NextGen, and Talking HealthTech.

You’ll hear from members of the expert judging panel and the two winners from the challenge.

We explore how digital health solutions are being co-designed and developed for underserved, priority populations, with a focus on bridging the gap between research, evidence-based innovation, and real-world impact.

Key Takeaways

🏢 The Priority Digital Health Challenge supports the creation of digital health solutions for underserved and priority populations, focusing on real-world needs that often do not fit traditional commercial models.

🤝 Initiatives like the Challenge help surface solutions arising from lived experience and subject matter expertise, particularly for communities and conditions often overlooked by mainstream systems.

👩‍⚕️ A strong emphasis is placed on making the process less daunting for health professionals and researchers, who may not be traditional entrepreneurs, by avoiding typical startup competition formats.

⚙️ Winning projects included Project Shine, a culturally tailored nutrition literacy tool for refugee and migrant communities, and Lights Out, an evidence-based child sleep intervention programme being transformed into an app.

💰 There is a significant challenge in translating research-led solutions into accessible, procured offerings within health systems due to limitations in procurement pathways and funding.

🗣️ Democratizing innovation opportunities and using co-design principles ensures voices from diverse communities are heard, leading to more impactful and culturally relevant solutions.

🌏 Upcoming initiatives, like the Ripple programme, aim to scale the Challenge internationally, provide more sustained support to cohorts of solutions, and address systemic gaps in distribution and uptake.

Check out the episode and full show notes on the Talking HealthTech website.

Loving the show? Leave us a review, and share it with someone who might get some value from it. Keen to take your healthtech to the next level? Become a THT+ Member for access to our online community forum, meet ups, special offers and more exclusive content. For more information visit talkinghealthtech.com/thtplus