Panasonic Well is a venture and business incubator within the Panasonic Group, committed to innovating new services and technologies to improve the health, wellness and overall well-being of modern families. By connecting hardware, software and services through industry-leading, responsible artificial intelligence (AI), their ecosystem of solutions helps families create harmony and live healthier and happier every day.
We sat down with Christie Pitts, head of business and corporate development at Panasonic Well, to learn more about the company and an exciting opportunity for startups that Panasonic Well is running in collaboration with the AgeTech Collaborative™ from AARP: the Family Wellness Innovation Challenge, which includes $1 million in cash prizes.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
The Panasonic brand is often associated with consumer electronics. What is Panasonic Well?
Panasonic was founded over a hundred years ago in Japan, and from the beginning, our founder was focused on wellness and well-being for everyone. Today, we have multiple types of businesses, and Panasonic Well is the new technology innovation incubator that’s focused on building solutions that improve well-being for the whole family.
We use the latest technologies on the market today, such as AI, in order to understand what families need, then create something people can use on a daily basis to live happier, healthier lives.
To help fulfill our mission, we’ve done significant longitudinal studies on families to understand what well-being means to them. We’re especially focused on family members who are in the sandwich generation — adults who are caring for their aging parents as well as for their children — and we really care deeply about the older members of the family. That’s why we’re a part of the AgeTech Collaborative ecosystem.
Panasonic Well is launching an exciting new competition for startups. Can you tell us about it?
We’re announcing the Family Wellness Innovation Challenge, through which we will award more than $1 million in cash prizes. The grand prize winner will receive $500,000, and four other finalists will each receive $125,000. All the finalists will get an all-expenses paid trip to CES 2025 in Las Vegas next January, where we’ll be doing the opening keynote. Each finalist will have space in our booth to exhibit on the floor.
What inspired Panasonic Well to do this Challenge?
We envision a world where technology and innovation truly support families in reaching their wellness goals. In order to do this, we’re immersing ourselves in the energy and cutting-edge ideas of the startup world to help bring our vision to life. We know we can’t do this alone.
Who is eligible to apply for the Family Wellness Innovation Challenge?
Any company that has a US entity and a product in the US market is eligible. Ideally, applicants would have familiarity with software partnerships and API integrations so that we could work together easily.
Other than that, we’re looking for holistic wellness solutions — anything that could help the members of a family improve their well-being. That could mean solutions that improve sleep or encourage more activity, but it also could be things such as a game that helps people connect with their family or a product that eases the mental burden for people responsible for coordinating a household.
What is the application process?
It’s very straightforward: Applicants fill out a short form on our website to describe their company and their solution, upload a brief video demo of their product, and click the submit button.
Applications close on October 25, and we will choose the five finalists by the beginning of December. As part of our collaboration with the AgeTech Collaborative, members of that team will be among those helping us evaluate submissions. We will then announce the grand prize winner at CES.
Interested in applying for the Family Wellness Innovation Challenge? Access the application at Panasonic Well’s website.
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