The IET Innovation Awards

Information Technology Award winner 2011

Cambridge Healthcare Ltd E-health Portal for Patients and Healthcare Professionals, Featuring the World’s First Healthcare Application Store

The judging panel commented:

This entry presented an excellent example of technology innovation that has real-world benefits. The team has taken an architected and practical approach to a real challenge and the application could have very great impact on personal and social environments. They should now be encouraged to take this beyond the current pilot and into public production.

Also shortlisted:

Scope of category

Information Technology has become much broader in scope than the traditional view of computing. Today, Information Technology is concerned with the development of applications to transform the way people work and live. This is often achieved by integrating data from diverse external data sources with other local data to derive new information to inform, control and prioritise the activities of the users of those applications.  Networks have become more sophisticated, databases more powerful and applications more accessible as end user devices become more appealing and easy to use.

Entries to the Information Technology category are welcomed from research, development, demonstration or early life phases of a new idea.  We want to hear about innovations that are clearly capable of commercial exploitation, or have valuable industrial application, or demonstrate advances in application development productivity, application security and reliability, or IT operations. It is important that the commercial potential, or advantages for society at large, can be demonstrated.

The Information Technology Award category welcomes nominations from (but is not limited to) projects that demonstrate:

• IT efficiency
  Innovations which demonstrate that products (software and hardware) work better and that application development becomes faster, more reliable and more secure.  We welcome entries across the spectrum from green computing initiatives to technical excellence.

• Business efficiency
  Innovations which demonstrate improved business process performance, customer service excellence or supplier management efficiency.

• Information security
  Innovations which demonstrate IT security with reference to access, authorisation, protection, preservation and rights; across the infrastructure. With increasing threats from cyber intrusion, innovations that address this significant challenge will be welcomed.

• Data management and accessibility
  Innovations which demonstrate smart data storage solutions, powerful data analysis and novel public user access

• Societal advantage
  Innovative R&D projects where benefits to society/humankind were built into the initial ‘raison d’être’, for instance projects to assist developing countries embrace mobile technology, or projects to help people with disabilities of some kind, projects being undertaken by charities and charitable trusts. This would be open to both the sponsoring organisation and the technology providers they have partnered with.

Submissions can also be entered to show advancements in the use of computing technology, computer control systems or new paradigms for computer systems (for example cloud computing, integration with broadcast technology or social networking).

Winning innovations in this category

2010:
UMI – Universal Metering Interface –an Open Standard allowing different communications standards to be included in Smart meters - Conceptually like USB in PCs. (Cambridge Consultants)

2009:
A truly wearable device for real time monitoring of breathing and heart rate (Imperial College)

2008:
Mobile Health (mHealth) for Development - Using Wireless Technology to Improve Public Health in Developing Countries (United Nations Foundation & Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership)

2007:

RTBI - Real Time Business Intelligence (BT)

See also

• How to enter
• All categories