Digital specialists from all sectors are being invited to apply their expertise to help Scotland become a world leader in cancer care. The challenge, launched in March, is seeking novel data and tech proposals to to find new ways of recording and integrating patient data to develop leading-edge care solutions.

Gillian Docherty, CEO at The Data Lab, said: “It is critical we harness the skills of a digitally literate workforce in Scotland whether they have experience in the health sector or not. There have been phenomenal advances in Cancer care in Scotland over the last decade and, while we understand the outcomes of patient care, time and funding constraints sometimes limit our ability to analyse how cancer services could be improved.”

“We’re keen to encourage learnings form other sectors so are calling on anyone with data and digital skills who wants to make an impact on cancer care to get involved.”

There are currently four different ways to get involved in the Cancer Innovation Challenge:

• Apply for funding

Up to £325,000 is available for participants in a two-phase funding competition. The first will last three months and will focus on technical feasibility. The second will last for six months with a focus on development and evaluation. A second funding competition will take place later in the year, focussing on innovative data science solutions using cancer data. The deadline for registering an interest in the competition is 15 May 2017, and the application submission deadline is 29 May 2017.

• Take part in the Cancer Data Drive

Entrepreneurially minded data scientists, analysts, clinicians, designers and software engineers are invited to spend three days and nights developing data focused projects to improve cancer care in NHS Scotland. The Cancer Data Drive will take place in Edinburgh on 15-18 June in partnership with Product Forge.

• Respond to the Cancer Data consultation

A consultation period has been launched to help The Data Lab shape their Cancer Data funding call, commencing later in the summer. Individuals with experience and skills working with large complex data sets in secure environments are invited to respond, as well as clinicians with experience of cancer patient care.

The consultation will end on 5 June 2017. 

• Become a reviewer

The Data Lab have an open call for funding application reviewers to complement an internal pool. Anyone with relevant data science, digital technology or clinical expertise are encouraged to get in touch.

For more information, please visit: www.cancerchallengescotland.com