To embrace the growing and fast-moving role that technology is playing in mental health care, APA will debut the Mental Health Innovation Zone in the Exhibit Hall at the 2017 Annual Meeting.
The Innovation Zone aims to create an interactive and dynamic “meeting within a meeting,” where attendees can drop in to learn about advances in mental health technology and network with rising entrepreneurs and proven leaders in this growing technology sector, said Nina Taylor, APA’s deputy director of education.
The Innovation Zone will feature demonstrations of wearable technologies and other devices, keynote lectures, panel discussions, and brainstorming sessions, while several sponsored booths will highlight some of the latest products and concepts in psychiatry.
Scheduled events include the following:
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Panel discussion on augmented and virtual reality.
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Panel discussion on electronic health records.
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Presentations by technology designers on their process of developing and testing new mental health apps.
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Session on digital medicine and the future of telepsychiatry.
The centerpiece of the Innovation Zone will be the Innovation Lab, wherein aspiring innovators compete with one another as they pitch their creative ventures for improving mental health care.
The format of the Innovation Lab will be similar to last year’s in which finalists whose proposals were deemed the strongest among a number of proposals submitted to APA will pitch their ideas to a panel of expert judges as well as the audience. A breakout session will follow during which the finalists will work with innovation leaders and other volunteers in the audience to strengthen the proposals. The revised pitches will then be judged.
Moving the Innovation Lab from a conference room into the heart of the Exhibit Hall provides an opportunity for more audience engagement, Taylor said. It is also appropriate given that the Exhibit Hall is the interface between the mental health and business worlds.
Multiple prizes will be awarded, including the Accelerator Prize. This award will go to the team who has advanced their idea the most since the 2016 IPS: The Mental Health Services Conference last October. By featuring this award, APA hopes to encourage Innovation Lab participants to continue refining their ideas and then bring them to market and share their experiences with meeting attendees. ■
The Innovation Zone will open on Sunday, May 21, at 9 a.m. with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the Exhibit Hall. The Innovation Lab will take place later in the day, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. More information on the Innovation Zone, including a proposed agenda for events, can be accessed here.
