GE Healthcare, the medical division of US-based conglomerate General Electric, yesterday launched a $100m open innovation challenge to improve detection and treatment of breast cancer.
The challenge is open to medical diagnostics companies through GE’s Healthymagination initiative, and will be co-funded by venture capital (VC) firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Venrock, Mohr Davidow and MPM Capital.
Entrants in the challenge will be judged by a selection of GE executives, partners from the VC firms and figures described as healthcare luminaries, with the winners obtaining seed grants of up to $100,000 each.
In addition to the challenge, GE is investing in a range of additional projects. These include the development of a ‘super database’, able to consolidate a range of clinical, treatment and pathological data in a single easy-to-access place. Data will initially come from organisations including GE’s Medical Quality Improvement Consortium and portfolio company Clarient, acquired by GE in October 2010.
GE also took the occasion to preview its Senobright breast cancer screening technique, which combines digital technology with X-rays, and Senocase, its portable mammography system. GE’s Healthymagination challenge is run along similar lines to its Ecomagination challenge, which selects ecological home energy start-ups for funding, and follows the launch of a specific $250m fund for healthcare.