The first Ukrainian contest of biomedical startups MBioS Challenge has been launched in Ukraine, the finalists of which will be able to present their works in London at the annual conference of the Ukrainian Medical Association of the UK (UMAUK).

Coordinator of the National Council for Innovation Development Alla Oliynyk said at a press conference on Wednesday said that the contest is not limited to any specific areas in the field of medical technologies. The organizers will consider startups at the level of finished products and at the level of prototypes and ideas.

At the same time, she said that special attention will be paid to projects following the world trends in the field of medical technologies.

"Particularly [projects] in the context of world trends in which medicine is moving are interesting: it is personalized medicine, point delivery of medicines and many other things. If we are talking about those technologies that can be applied in Ukraine, where we have many experts, of course, we are talking about blockchain technologies, artificial intelligence, the Internet of things, the recognition of images of augmented reality, the technologies on the basis of which the world today is building its understanding of medicine," Oliynyk said.

In turn, Head of the organizing committee of iForum Oleksandr Olshansky said, commenting on the possibilities of using blockchain technology in medicine, that it provides the opportunity of storing any data on medical manipulations, cutting off the possibility of their modification.

"From the point of view of medicine, this, of course, is an important thing, since blockchain allows you to create non-qualified sources of data," he said.

Head of the House of Innovations Oleksandr Kulvanovsky said that those who wish to take part in the contest should fill out a questionnaire on the website of the organization, as well as present a video clip that reveals the essence of the project. Submission of applications for participation in the contest lasts until March 23. After the deadline for their admission, the jury, which will include professionals in the field of medicine, biology, as well as representatives of business and venture funds, will consider projects from 23 March through 23 April and assess their commercial outlook. The participants of the contest will be consulted by lawyers and certified patent attorneys.

The final of the contest will be held in the forum of Internet figures iForum on April 25.

"The winners - we assume 10 teams - will go to London. The UMAUK holds an annual conference. In the second half of the conference, they arrange a pitch deck and invite investors," Kulvanovsky said.

The contest was organized by the House of Innovations jointly with UMAUK, Borsch Ventures, with the support of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine.