Man is a creature composed of countless millions of cells: a microbe is composed of only one, yet throughout the ages the two have been in a ceaseless conflict. ~ A.B. Christie

Formerly, when religion was strong and science weak, men mistook magic for medicine; now, when science is strong and religion weak, men mistake medicine for magic. Today's technology was perceived as magic by our ancestors and surely what we cannot even dream of today will be the present of tomorrow. Man has been fighting since ages to defeat the lord of 'age'. The army of syndromes is far from being trounced. Elixir calls upon all the warriors who have been working for the cause. Guys, Immortality Beckons !

Elixir is an effort inviting healthcare solutions and innovations that stand a chance to conquer the challenges we face today. Nothing is more precious and sacred than a human life and saving one is nothing less than playing God. So set your mind and imagination free on a journey to capture the insights and ideas trapped inside you and come up with solutions which could perhaps define a better tomorrow.

Cash prizes worth INR 1,00,000 to be won

Download the problem statement

Register for Elixir (non-students can also participate)

For further queries contact:

Note: The themes which are elaborated below are just a few examples to guide the participants in case they are unsure whether to send their entries or not. The list is not exhaustive. The choice of the field for sending in the entries depends purely at his/her own discretion. We are open to any idea which holds the key to solving any health related problem. Ideas can be solutions to unmet clinical needs or low cost solutions.

Drug Delivery Mechanisms
For most of the industry's existence, pharmaceuticals have primarily consisted of simple, fast-acting chemical compounds that are dispensed orally (as solid pills and liquids) or as injectables. During the past three decades, however, formulations that control the rate and period of drug delivery (i.e. time-release medications) and target specific areas of the body for treatment have become increasingly common and complex. The possibility of finding potential treatments resulting from discoveries of bioactive molecules and gene therapies puts pharmaceutical research on the verge of crossing of yet another milestone. However, this next leap poses questions and challenges to not only the development of new treatments but also the mechanisms with which to administer them.

The existing drug delivery mechanism suffers from some specific problems that researchers are trying to address. For example, many drugs' potencies and therapeutic effects are limited or otherwise reduced because of the partial degradation that occurs before they reach the desired target in the body. Once ingested, time-release medications deliver treatment continuously, rather than activating when necessary. Further, injectable medications could be made less expensively and administered more easily if they could simply be dosed orally. However, this improvement cannot happen until methods are developed to safely shepherd drugs through specific areas of the body, such as the stomach, where low pH can destroy a medication, or through an area where healthy bone and tissue might be adversely affected.

The goal of all sophisticated drug delivery systems, therefore, is to deploy medications intact to specifically targeted parts of the body through a medium that can control the therapy's administration by means of either a physiological or chemical trigger.


Mobile Health
Mobile health or mHealth, as Prof. Istepanian calls it is defined as "the delivery of healthcare services via mobile communication devices". The field broadly encompasses the use of mobile telecommunication and multimedia technologies in health care delivery. It operates on the premise that technology integration within the health sector has great potential to promote better health communication and enhance healthcare quality by improving access to medical and health information and facilitating instantaneous communication in places where this was not previously possible. The obvious answers this technology has to offer are increased access to healthcare and health-related information (particularly for hard-to-reach populations), improved ability to diagnose and track diseases, epidemic outbreak tracking, remote monitoring and communication and training for healthcare workers.

The field has emerged in recent years as largely an application for developing countries, stemming from the rapid rise of mobile phone penetration in low-income nations. Efforts are ongoing to explore how a broad range of technologies and most recently mHealth technologies can improve such health outcomes as well as generate cost savings within the health systems of low and middle-income countries. In some ways, the potential of mHealth lies in its ability to offer opportunities for direct voice communication (of particular value in areas of poor literacy rates and limited local language-enabled phones) and information transfer capabilities that previous technologies did not have.


Biosensing technology
The concept of tattooing, which was viewed as a form of body art, fashion and rebellion is now being used by researchers for embedding smart sensors for monitoring vital analytes in the body, and it seems that the development of micro and nano-scale sensors and actuators might prove to be instrumental in curing the human body of its various ills. Bio-sensing technologies are of increasing importance in healthcare, agri-food, environmental and security sectors, and this is reflected in the continued growth of global markets for such technologies. As we engage with the world, our bodies react with unconscious signals that until recently have been measured exclusively in doctor's offices and research labs. But the past few decade has seen an explosion of bio-sensors and bio-enabled products ranging from cardio watches to brain wave-controlled video games.

Bio-sensing is all about measuring biological signals. A bio-sensor is an analytical device which converts a biological response into an electrical signal. It includes all the devices which determine the concentration of substances and other parameters of biological interest.

Some themes of bio-sensing:
Biomarkers
Development and discovery of new biological molecules and systems for integration in bio-sensing applications. For example, novel molecules integrated with silicon components at the micro and nano-scales; biological targets for sensing technologies. The use of biomarkers also includes aspects of immobilization and stabilization.
Sensor technology
Novel sensing technologies developed for bio-sensing applications include optical, electrochemical, piezoelectric or magnetic measurements; novel sensors for bio-imaging. Micro and nano fabrication technologies are used to develop and manufacture bio/sensors.
Instrumentation and data processing
Challenges associated with measuring signals generated by biosensor technologies to enable the utilization of bio-sensing systems. Potential solutions relating to the development of new instrumentation, signal and image processing, data analysis and communications.
System Integration
Issues associated with integrating technologies to produce a working bio-sensing system. This could include technical interfacing challenges such as sample introduction and handling through to aspects of commercialisation and adoption of bio-sensing technology into chosen markets.

Technical Report Submission	25th September, 2011	To be considered for mentorship, participants have to register and submit a technical report before 25th September in the specified format. Mentorship will be provided if requested by the participant.
Mentorship Stage	10th October, 2011 - 5th January, 2012	Participants (who have requested mentorship) will be shortlisted on the basis of the technical report and will be allotted mentors latest by 10th October.
Progress report Submission	30th October, 2011	Teams will work upon the idea and will submit a progress report of the work done before 30th October, 2011.
Registration Deadline for open entries	5th November, 2011	Last date for registration of open entries as well as international participants. However, the final report and video of working model can be submitted till 30th November.
Final Project Report	30th November, 2011	Final project report explaining all the technical details of the project will have to be submitted along with a video (if relevant) before 30th November. Finalists will be selected on the basis of this report.
Result	5th December, 2011	Declaration of shortlisted teams for final presentation during Techfest 2012 on the basis of final project report.
Final Video and Presentation	25th December, 2011	Participants have to submit the final video and presentation to be displayed during the festival before 25th December.
Presentation Stage	6th-8th January, 2012	Final presentation along with the demonstration of the working prototype/CAD-CAM design.

Technical Report Format

The technical report should concisely include following points:

Title
Abstract
1.	Objectives
2.	Beneficiaries (For whom)
3.	Value of results (Use)

Background

Statement of Problem
1.	Succinct definition of problem (follows from material in the background section)

Research
1.	Present methods of tackling the problem (if any)
2.	Proposed Solution
3.	Alternate soultions/approaches
4.	Novelty of Approach: How is your solution better than existing products that address the same problem.

Technical Report
1.	Description of concepts, theories or approach involved in the proposed solution.
2.	Technical aspect of the proposed solution.
3.	Detailed technical specifications and pictorial representations (block diagrams)
4.	Description of the flow of operations demonstrating key features and functionality
5.	Performance estimate of the solution.
6.	Experimentation done to establish the workability of the above
7.	A link to the video of the working model/ prototype.

Results
1.	Actual findings, significant output of tests and analysis (Must be readable)
2.	Include problems encountered, believability of results, accuracy estimates
3.	Pros and Cons of your solution
4.	Utility of results

Application
1.	Your idea as a solution to the problem
2.	Additional applications
3.	Benefits to the users

Any other specific details

Technical Report Submission

The format of the technical report should be as follows :

1. The technical report should be in pdf format.
2. The complete problem should be highlighted clearly.
3. Font: Verdana.
4. Size: 11.
5. Spacing between two lines: 0.6 inch

Teams have to submit the above technical report on their idea latest by 30th November, 2011.

Participants unable to submit their abstracts by 25th September 2011 or those who haven't been shortlisted for mentor allocation can still participate by registering before 5th November 2011 and sending us this final detailed technical report by 30th November 2011.
Teams should mail the technical report to elixir[at]techfest[dot]org latest by 25th September, 2011 with the subject "Ideate: Elixir: Technical Report: Team Id" For ex. Ideate: Elixir: Technical Report: EL1234 Please do not forget to mention your Team Id in the subject while sending it.

Mentorship Stage

Mentorship is the unique feature of Ideate (Elixir, Earth, Utkarsh and Inspire India) which makes it different from our other competitions. Our mentors are intellectuals from elite educational institutes and industries. The role of mentors is indispensable for the success of this initiative. It is the experience and the expertise of the mentors that will guide the teams to work on their ideas and mould their dreams into reality. The mentorship would start from 10th October and will continue till the culmination of Techfest 2012 (January 6-8, 2012). The mentees will be required to give regular updates (at least weekly) to the mentors regarding his work progress via telephone, messaging, e-mails or meetings. The mentors will provide guidance on developing the idea. Also they will help mentees to deal with specific issues and problems as they arise.

Final Presentation

After declaration of the finalists, participants will be required to make a working prototype/CAD-CAM model of the project as well as a presentation covering the technical and financial aspects in a detailed manner. The teams will have to bring their model to be judged and showcased at Techfest 2012. Support in manufacturing aspects of the prototype will be provided to best few teams.

Judging

Elixir will be judged by a panel of experts. Following are the broad guidelines for judging:

1. Innovation involved in the development of the idea and its practicality.
2. Originality and Patentability.
3. Clinical Utility.
4. Technical Feasibility.
5. Implementability of the product.
6. Cost efficiency (if relevant).
7. Superiority of the product over existing products in market.

Note: In some cases where it is not possible to make a working model then the team should make a physical model of their design and/or CAD-CAM design. Also, only very large scale and high initial cost related ideas should remain into non-working prototypes. The final solutions/innovations shall be forwarded to the organizations and institutions working in the respective fields for further reviews in their R&D.

General Rules

1. The competition is open to all (students, research scholars and professionals).
2. Every team has to register online on our website for the competition. A registration number will be allocated to the team on registration which shall be used for future references.
3. A team can register at any point of time before 5th November, 2011 and can submit final abstract and video (as mentioned in structure). However, the technical reports submitted before 25th September, 2011 would be considered for mentorship if requested by the participant. Teams which submit their abstracts at a later stage would be provided with mentors only if their idea is exceptionally good.
4. All teams will have to submit the videos of their prototypes along with an abstract before 30th November, 2011. The shortlisted team details will be put up on the website by 5th December, 2011.
5. The decision of judges shall be treated as final and binding on all.
6. Note that at any point of time the latest information will be that which is on the site. The information provided in the pdf downloaded earlier may not be the latest. However, registered participants will be informed through mail about any changes on the site.

For International Participants

All international participants will have to register before 5th November 2011, and will have to submit the videos of their prototypes along with a complete report before 30th November 2011. The shortlisted international team details will be put up on the website by 5th December, 2011.

Certificate Policy

Those participants whose ideas and plan of action are recommended by the judges, on the basis of their ability to get implemented, will be provided with a certificate of participation. The top entries from this event would be provided with a certificate of excellence.

Team Specifications

The participating entries must be in a team of a maximum of 4[four] people. If the participating team feels that their idea requires more participants, they can forward their request, with suitable reasons, to elixir[at]techfest[dot]org with the subject "Elixir team number increase".

Results have been declared. The following teams have been shortlisted for the final presentation.

EL 2127	EL 2213	EL 2396	EL 1077	EL 2414
EL 2084	EL 2236	EL 2306	EL 2412	EL 2355
EL 2398	EL 2296	EL 2286	EL 2187	EL 2233
EL 2420