We are extremely proud and excited to share with you that Baby Buddy has won the AXA PPP Health Tech & You Award for pregnancy, birth and a child’s early years. Winners were announced at a special event at the Design Museum in London last night.

AXA PPP judge Rama Gheerawo, Deputy Director of the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design described Baby Buddy as “A truly inclusive and socially motivated innovation that will make a real difference to the lives of all parents. The app provides support in a way that does not patronise and forms part of a service that will grow and continue to adapt to people’s needs. We loved that the idea is so ethically-driven, was tested with users and is so well resolved. The creators showed real passion and belief in their work, driving it from an idea to real world service. It is informative, easy to navigate and very inclusive.”

The awards were presented by Lara Lewington, presenter of the technology and innovation programme BBC Click. Over 120 entries were submitted, with four finalists chosen for each category.  An expert judging panel of health industry professionals and leaders then chose the category winners and overall winner.

Best Beginnings’ CEO Alison Baum said, “I and my team and trustees at Best Beginnings are absolutely thrilled that our Baby Buddy app has won the AXA PPP Health Tech & You Award... Special thanks to the AXA PPP Health Tech & You judges for giving us this award and for your incredible feedback. Your understanding and acknowledgement of our work means an enormous amount to everyone at Best Beginnings.”

Adel Zakout, CEO of Despark (who developed the Baby Buddy app), added, "We are delighted that our solution for Best Beginnings was so well received by the HealthTech industry – as well as the mothers who are the app’s target market. Not only was this was an exciting project for the Despark team, it was a very worthwhile one. Projects that disrupt the world and make a meaningful impact on people’s lives are why we get out of bed every day.”

Gavin Fergie of Unite CPHVA commented, "This is excellent news and worthy congratulations to Best Beginnings on being awarded the AXA PPP Health Tech & You Award, the Baby Buddy app is a great development and a worthy resource for families to use in the early period of their baby’s life. Health Visitors and Community Nursery Nurses are unable to provide an around the clock service and resources like the Baby Buddy app provide a back up to their professional voice. Unite CPHVA are very proud to be one of the professional ‘buddys’ that have made this resource what it is today and we will continue supporting this particular ‘baby’ in its growth and development."

Jane Ritchie, Consultant Paediatrician said, “Congratulations to the team who well deserve this. I have always been amazed by the content of Baby Buddy, its ability to be personalised and retain a memory of individual narratives, as well as all the links and integrated content.”

Best Beginnings created Baby Buddy thanks to funding from the Big Lottery Fund and the app is endorsed by the Department of Health and a number of Royal Colleges and professional organisations.  

 

 

 

Best Beginnings created a short film about the Baby Buddy app in support of the AXA PPP application, which we are delighted to share with you here: 

The Best Beginnings team attended an early viewing of the AXA PPP Health Tech &You exhibition at the Design Museum last week. The exhibition is now open to the public and runs until 26 April 2015. It showcases all 24 shortlisted entries across the six categories and features wearable technology, apps and devices designed to keep people healthy, detect symptoms, or manage conditions, and prototypes of emerging technologies.

It has been exciting to see Baby Buddy featured among such a diverse and powerful range of healthcare technologies and a real privilege to have won the special category focusing on health tech designed to support families throughout pregnancy, birth and a child’s early years. We hope that this will help Baby Buddy to reach even more families and give more people access to easy-to-use, good quality information. 


Find out about the AXA PPP Health Tech &You exhibition at the Design Museum here.

Find out about the AXA PPP Health Tech & You Award special category for pregnancy, birth and a child’s early years here.