Sanofi US has launched the Collaborate Activate Innovation Challenge, which will award a total of $500,000 to teams of patient advocacy groups or medical professional associations who deliver novel approaches to better engage patients in their own health.

The challenge is based on the concept that advocates working together can make a bigger collective impact than groups working alone, and requires groups to collaborate to qualify for the contest.

"To achieve successful health outcomes, the patient must be actively engaged in his or her own health," said Anne Whitaker, president of North America pharmaceuticals, Sanofi U.S. "With patients spending on average only a few hours in a doctor's office a year, successful management of any health condition goes beyond the physician and requires positive impact from the groups that support the patient — from caregivers to patient advocates to providers. Sanofi U.S. is pleased to present the Collaborate Activate Innovation Challenge to promote collaboration between the key patient influencers to help identify new ways to encourage patient engagement, to help patients navigate their journey with their condition, and ultimately to improve the patients' health outcomes."

The challenge is designed to foster collaboration between non-profit organizations with a common purpose and promote sharing of complementary resources to accelerate the impact on people's health. To support this idea, the entries must meet these parameters:

• Proposed ideas must focus on engaging people to take an active role in their healthcare
• Submissions must include two or more non-profit patient advocacy groups or medical professional organizations; a multidisciplinary approach is highly encouraged

Four finalist teams will receive opportunities for mentorship to fully optimize impact and outcomes. At a finalist event, the four teams will present their plans to a panel of expert judges and a winning team and runner-up will be selected.

The Collaborate Activate Innovation Challenge awards, totaling $500,000, will be distributed as follows:

• Four finalist teams will be selected and will each receive $25,000
• From the four teams, one runner-up will receive an additional $100,000
• One winning team will receive an additional $300,000

Submissions will be accepted July 23 through August 31, 2012. Finalists will be announced on September 17 and the winner will be announced on November 15, 2012.