Accenture, whose main North Texas office is in Irving, has put a call out worldwide to find next-generation technology and innovation in the health care industry.

As part of its broader HealthTech Innovation program to support problem-solving in the health care ecosystem, Accenture’s challenge is seeking to identify a company with a scalable, customer-ready solution to a health care problem. The winner will be bolstered with resources and connections.

“The passion, determination, and curiosity of the startups and other program participants will help established players make the pivotal move to delivering better patient outcomes and collaboration,” senior managing director of Accenture Life Sciences Anne O’Riordan said in a release.

This year, the competition is centered on three categories:

Keeping a population healthy through wellness and prevention. (Minimizing hospital visits, wellness/lifestyle management, remote care delivery models, social determinants of health, and better education)
Using digital health solutions to deliver better patient outcomes. (Telehealth, artificial intelligence, digital clinical trials, blockchain, internet of things, digital pills, 3D printing, and real-world evidence)
Improving health care delivery for the patient. (Efficient health care through office/patient management, cost transparency/payments, strategic sourcing, health records, care coordination, and enterprise workflow)

Applications for the HealthTech Innovation Challenge are open through Sept. 1 and should detail the company’s solution and design, business model, potential impact on client outcomes, and solution scalability.

After applications close, selected companies will be invited to compete in one of the four regional pitching rounds taking place Nov. 1 in Tokyo, Nov. 15 in Sydney and Dublin, and Nov. 29 in Boston.

Applications for the HealthTech Innovation Challenge are open through Sept. 1.

The remaining finalists will then compete in the championship round held Jan. 7, 2019 at the StartUp Health Festival in San Francisco during the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. Judges will be comprised of senior executives from global health and life sciences companies.

The top companies in each of the three competition categories will gain exposure and access to leading companies in their target market.

In its first two years, the competition attracted nearly 1,200 startup applicants. New York City-based Nanowear, a manufacturer of a congestive-heart failure monitoring undergarment, was last year’s winner and is currently preparing for a clinical study and commercial launch later this year.

“Accenture’s program provided one-of-a-kind connections to more than 50 stakeholders across the very complex health care ecosystem, fostering outstanding mentorship opportunities and relationships with providers, payers, device manufacturers, the pharma industry, IT executives, regulatory bodies, and health care investors,” Nanowear’s co-founder and CEO Venk Varadan said in a release.