VicHealth's Innovation Challenges are an opportunity for you to pitch innovative, impactful and implementable solutions to make health gains across our Strategic Imperatives.
The most promising ideas are rewarded with start-up funds, our support and a growing network of mentors and capacity builders to test out those solutions in practice.
Get notified about upcoming Challenges: register or login then sign-up to Innovation Updates.
Physical activity
August 2014 – current
Getting communities more active is in the best interests of all Victorians. Across Australia, people are leading less active lives, with less than a third of Australians getting enough physical activity.
It is estimated that physical inactivity is costing the Australian economy $13.8 billion each year.1
VicHealth's Innovation Challenge: Sport is about kick-starting ideas that help get Victorians of all ages moving toward better health and wellbeing through playing sport.
Arts
Nov 2014 – May 2015
The 2014 VicHealth Innovation Challenge: Arts called for new ideas to get more Victorians physically active and socially connected. We challenged you to think of creative ways the arts could use digital technologies to get more Victorians moving more often.
The quality of submissions and the innovative ideas in them clearly demonstrated the vitality of Victoria's creative industries. From the 40 proposals received submitted a pool of $115,000 in start-up funding was awarded to two ideas in April 2015.
Alcohol
Sep 2014 – Feb 2015
Research shows that almost half of Victorians (46%) drink in a way that increases their risk of injury, with this rising to two-thirds (67%) for young people aged 16 to 29.
Over half (53%) of Victorians aged 16 to 29 believe getting drunk every now and then is not a problem.2 But a majority (87%) of Australians think alcohol is a serious issue facing our community, and improving Victoria’s drinking culture is a high priority for VicHealth.3
The Innovation Challenge: Alcohol called for ideas to help change Victoria’s drinking culture by reducing the amount Victorians drink, particularly those that drink heavily, or to increase the acceptability of saying no to a drink, or drinking a bit less. Funding was awarded to four projects in February 2015 and projects were delivered over 12-18 months throughout 2015 and 2016.
Healthy eating
April 2013 – October 2014
How do we improve fruit and vegetable supply and access, as well as develop and promote a culture of healthy eating in Victoria?
The VicHealth Seed Challenge was about innovation, developing new ways of working together, prototyping the brightest ideas, and using digital technology to improve local fresh food production and distribution so that nutritious food is sustainable, available, and affordable for all Victorians.
Recently VicHealth announced extended support to the two Healthy Eating Seed Challenge winners, 3000 Acres and Open Food Network, until June 2015. The investment will accelerate their progression to viable business models whilst delivering new solutions to improving the supply, access and culture of fruit and vegetables in Victoria.
