Korea Novartis Selected as Partner for 'HealthX Challenge' with Doctor Diary and Lemon Healthcare

Novartis Korea announced on the 17th that it selected Dr. Diary and Lemon Healthcare as the final partners in the 4th ‘HealthX Challenge Seoul’ contest project, co-hosted with the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Seoul Bio Hub, and held an awards ceremony at Seoul Bio Hub on the 13th.

Korea Novartis announced on the 17th that it selected Dr. Diary and Lemon Healthcare as the final partners for the 4th 'HealthX Challenge Seoul' contest project and held an awards ceremony at Seoul Bio Hub on the 13th. Director Baek Dasom of Korea Novartis, Executive Director Kim Wonpil of Korea Novartis, CEO Song Jeyoon of Dr. Diary, Director Kim Hyukjin of Dr. Diary, Vice President Kim Junhyun of Lemon Healthcare, and Kim Jeongan, Head of Bio AI Industry Division at Seoul City (from left to right), are posing for a commemorative photo.
[Photo by Korea Novartis]

Now in its 4th year, HealthX Challenge Seoul is an open innovation program established as part of Novartis’ ‘HealthX World Series,’ a bio and digital healthcare innovation competition, aimed at developing and advancing solutions to address unmet needs in the health management sector.

This contest, held over about a month starting in May, targeted startups and prospective entrepreneurs under the theme of ‘patient-centered comprehensive health management.’ It was divided into two categories: ▲patient and healthcare provider connection solutions and ▲chronic disease management solutions. After document and presentation evaluations, considering factors such as topic relevance, technological innovation, business feasibility, and impact, one company per category was selected, totaling two final companies.

Lemon Healthcare, selected as the final partner in the patient and healthcare provider connection solutions category, was highly evaluated for its integrated mobile service capable of handling everything from appointment booking, preliminary examination, payment, to actual expense insurance claims. Dr. Diary, in the chronic disease management solutions category, showcased customized solutions for chronic disease patients such as diabetes prevention and weight management based on health record monitoring data, leading to a partnership with Novartis Korea.

The two final selected companies will each receive research support funds of 40 million KRW and benefits to reside at Seoul Bio Hub for two years. Novartis Korea also plans to support expert-linked mentoring and coaching, global network formation, solution advancement, and various programs to assist partner companies’ global expansion.

Wonpil Kim, Executive Director of the Innovation Business Division at Novartis Korea, said, “We thank the participating companies for actively proposing ideas to build and advance patient-centered digital healthcare services. We will spare no effort to support the selected innovative companies in strengthening their competitiveness in the bio and digital healthcare fields to practically contribute to resolving unmet medical needs.” He added, “Going forward, Novartis Korea will continue to expand cooperation with domestic startups and companies in the biohealth sector to foster and revitalize the domestic digital healthcare ecosystem.”

Hyunwoo Kim, Director of Seoul Bio Hub, also stated, “As patient-centered healthcare becomes full-fledged, we are accelerating personalized health management throughout the entire life cycle of patients beyond simple disease treatment. We hope this HealthX Challenge program will serve as an opportunity to attract significant interest in growing and advancing comprehensive medical services utilizing medical big data and information systems.”

Novartis Korea is also working with previously selected partner companies from past contest projects such as EverX, Humanscape, and Three Billion to conduct disease awareness campaigns, advance genetic analysis technologies, provide exercise management solutions for patients, and support opportunities for overseas expansion.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.