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We are proud to support the Ripple Women’s Digital Health Challenge 2025, an initiative to help accelerate new solutions in women’s health, a priority set out in the NHS Women’s Health Strategy for England. Delivered by Cogniss, the Health Innovation Network and Amazon Web Services (AWS), the challenge will support a cohort of innovators to build pilot-ready women’s health apps without code, supported with pathways to NHS adoption.

Closing the gap in women’s health innovation

Women’s health has long been under-researched, under-funded and underserved. Until the 1990s, women were systematically underrepresented in clinical trials in the UK and globally, leaving diagnosis, treatment and dosing often based on male physiology. The consequences are still being felt today. Women are 50 percent more likely than men to be misdiagnosed following a heart attack, and female-specific conditions remain chronically underfunded compared to their impact on patients and health systems.

The Women’s Health Strategy for England, introduced in July 2022, set out a 10-year plan to close these gaps by improving access, equity and outcomes for women across priority areas such as menopause, maternal health, fertility, gynaecological conditions and mental health. At the same time, the 10-Year Health Plan for England: Fit for the Future, published in July 2025, commits to shift from analogue to digital, from hospital-based to community-based care, and from sickness to prevention. The Ripple Women’s Digital Health Challenge is set to advance these commitments within women’s health by giving innovators the infrastructure and pathways to create practical digital tools that can be piloted and adopted into NHS services.

About the programme

Over 12 months, 8–10 innovators will be supported through a structured app-build programme using Cogniss’s no-code technology, with adoption and piloting support from the Health Innovation Network , secure and scalable infrastructure from AWS, and access to resources and networks across delivery partners.

Unlike one-off competitions that only reward a single winner, Ripple’s cohort model selects the most promising applicants to join a structured programme, guiding them step by step to a pilot-ready app with a clear route to adoption. Two winners will also receive tailored guidance and enhanced visibility.

Innovations are invited to address priorities including, but not limited to, menopause, maternal and perinatal care, gynaecological cancers, fertility, mental health, pelvic and cardiovascular health, and health equity.

Leon Young, CEO of Cogniss said:

“Cogniss exists to help health experts and systems create digital health products for the patients who need them most. This Challenge presents the start of a new chapter for us. Building on the success of our previous programmes, we will support a global cohort of women’s health specialists to create a suite of apps in one urgent area: women’s health. With all these apps built on the same platform, we make it simpler for health systems to adopt them faster and at a greater scale.”

Richard Stubbs, Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber CEO and Chair of the Health Innovation Network, said:

“Women’s health is a national priority. Through Ripple we will rapidly develop the most promising women’s health innovations and get them into the hands of the clinicians and patients who need them most. Working in partnership in this way means we can go further and faster than before and I’m really excited by the impact this project will have.”

Kira Levy, Head of Healthcare UK AWS, said:

“Transforming women’s health requires collective action. This Challenge brings together innovators, health systems and technology partners, to tackle long-standing gaps in care. At AWS, we are proud to offer a secure and scalable cloud foundation that enables these new solutions to be piloted and adopted by the NHS.”

Applications now open

Applications open 22 September 2025 and close 29 October 2025, with judging in December and the programme beginning in February 2026.

Innovators can find more information and apply at: www.ripplechallenge.org/womens-digital-health-challenge-2025