Migraine Experts Defined Needs for the Digital Health Competition

On October 22, in the service design workshop in Tallinn, migraine experts defined key needs and problems for the forthcoming migraine-themed innovation competition. The Migraine Innovation Challenge, to be announced at the end of October, aims to find digital health solutions to support people living with migraines and their medical teams.

The initiative to organise the competition came from the Estonian Headache Society. Migraine is the most common and most costly neurological illness. In Estonia, about a quarter of women and one tenth of men suffer from it. Migraine most commonly affects young working-age adults and women of childbearing age, whose quality of life is seriously affected by the illness. “Migraine is more than a headache. During a migraine attack, people remain practically unable to live their lives, they can not fulfil their duties and spend quality time with their loved ones,” explained Dr. Mark Braschinsky, Senior Neurologist at the Neurology Clinic of the Tartu University Hospital, Head of the Estonian Headache Society, member of the Board of the European Headache Federation. “In the workshop, we are looking for bottlenecks in the health care system arising from the patient’s journey that could be addressed by better use of information technology opportunities,” added Braschinsky.

The Migraine Innovation Challenge is conducted by the Estonian health technology cluster Connected Health, which is managed by Tallinn Science Park Tehnopol. “It is our expectation that, as a result of the competition, 2-3 valuable ideas for solutions with the capable teams will emerge, whose ambition is not limited to Estonia,” said Kitty Kubo, Innovation Lead of the Connected Health. “In the field of migraine, there are already solutions available in the world and their number is growing all the time. There are also people in Estonia who have used some of these solutions. However, there is a common expectation among patients and healthcare professionals to have solutions that are adopted to our market. It means availability both in Estonian and Russian, and integration with the diagnosis, treatment and monitoring processes,” said Kubo.

The Migraine Innovation Challenge is scheduled to be announced on October 30 and it culminates with a 48-hour hackathon taking place from November 30 to December 2 in Tallinn, Estonia. The hackathon is a side-event of the international migraine conference organised by the Estonian Headache Society in collaboration with the European Headache Federation, held on November 30.

The Migraine Innovation Challenge is supported by Novartis.