Innovation starts with understanding the problem.

That idea was at the heart of the first Bounce Health Innovation Challenge: Aging + Brain Health Edition, a four-month program designed to help interdisciplinary teams explore validated healthcare challenges before developing digital health solutions.

Delivered in partnership with the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI), the Challenge invited entrepreneurs, students, and innovators from across Newfoundland and Labrador to tackle some of the most pressing issues facing older adults, caregivers, and the healthcare system. Rather than beginning with a technology, participants were encouraged to begin with the people and the problems, validating real needs before proposing solutions.

Tackling Real-World Healthcare Challenges

Participants selected from a series of validated challenge areas developed with CABHI, each focused on improving aging and brain health in meaningful ways. These included:

• Improving access to and coordination of care for older adults.
• Strengthening social connection, purpose, and independence.
• Supporting caregivers and reducing caregiver burden.
• Improving healthy aging in rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

Teams also had the opportunity to propose their own challenge, provided it addressed an important aging or brain health need and demonstrated the potential for meaningful impact.

A Structured Path from Problem to Solution

The Challenge was designed to guide teams through a structured, milestone-based process over four months.

During Phase One, participants focused on exploration and validation. They conducted customer discovery, engaged with stakeholders, explored existing evidence, refined their understanding of the problem, and tested early solution concepts before presenting their findings to an adjudication panel.

Five teams were then selected to advance to Phase Two, each receiving $5,000 in non-dilutive funding to continue their work.

The Phase Two teams were:

• DischargeHUB
• eLumino
• OmaScan
• SafeStep AI
• VOK Developments Ltd.

During the second phase, teams continued strengthening their proposed digital health solutions, exploring implementation considerations, refining their approach, and preparing to present at the Final Showcase.

Throughout the program, participants received mentorship, expert guidance, milestone-based funding, and opportunities to challenge their thinking as they progressed from problem exploration to solution development.

Celebrating the Final Showcase

The program concluded with the inaugural Bounce Health Innovation Challenge Final Showcase, where the five Phase Two teams presented their solutions to a panel of judges representing Newfoundland and Labrador’s innovation ecosystem.

Following an afternoon of outstanding pitches, three teams were selected to receive additional funding to continue advancing their ventures and solutions.

Congratulations to Our Winners

🥇 OmaScan — First Place ($25,000)

🥈 VOK Developments Ltd. — Second Place ($15,000)

🥉 DischargeHUB — Third Place ($10,000)

Building the Future of Health Innovation

The Bounce Health Innovation Challenge was created to do more than recognize great ideas. It was designed to strengthen Newfoundland and Labrador’s health innovation ecosystem by helping promising teams better understand real healthcare challenges, validate opportunities for impact, and accelerate solutions with the potential to improve care.

The success of this inaugural Challenge demonstrates the value of bringing innovators together around meaningful healthcare problems and providing the support, mentorship, and connections needed to move promising ideas forward.

As Bounce Health Innovation prepares for the next Challenge, we’re excited to continue working with innovators who are passionate about solving healthcare challenges and improving the future of care in Newfoundland and Labrador.