The initiative, dubbed the Health AI Championship, was born out of a legislative effort to address regulatory gaps in AI adoption.
“The story behind this competition originates from a bill Connecticut state Sen. James Maroney introduced in the Connecticut State Legislature last year. He identified a gap in AI regulation, believing the federal government was slow to establish guidelines compared to some European countries,” Lee Schwamm, MD, senior vice president and chief digital health officer at Yale New Haven Health, told Becker’s. “During our discussions, he asked what barriers were preventing Connecticut from becoming a more AI-friendly and innovative space. I told him that one key factor was the need to create an environment that provides greater visibility for AI researchers and inventors.”
This conversation led to the idea of a statewide AI competition to foster innovation while addressing regulatory concerns.
Yale New Haven Health’s Center for Health Care Innovation is leading the competition, which is open to hospital and health system employees and faculty in Connecticut. Hartford-based Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Wallingford-based Gaylord Hospital, Danbury-based Nuvance Health, Hartford HealthCare and Farmington-based UConn Health have already committed to participating.
Unlike traditional AI development—where innovations emerge independently before finding applications in healthcare—this initiative seeks to reverse the trend by directing AI innovation toward pressing healthcare challenges from the outset.
“We want to drive AI to address the problems that are critical in healthcare, not have AI inventions pop up everywhere and then try to figure out if some of them could be used in healthcare,” Dr. Schwamm said.
Up to eight proposals will receive funding, with the top prize awarding up to $100,000. Participants will also gain access to expert mentorship and strategic guidance to refine and enhance their innovations. Judges will evaluate algorithms based on science, impact and business sustainability.
“The winner of the competition will also be able to validate their data in the Yale New Haven data ecosystem, which could be a huge enabler for somebody within our own ecosystem to have that opportunity,” Dr. Schwamm said.
The competition aims to make AI more accessible and foster state-level partnerships.
“Broadening the competition to be statewide and engaging the state as a partner in this is an example of trying to democratize access to these sorts of innovations and to hear from voices across the spectrum, not just the voices at a few select institutions,” Dr. Schwamm said.
