The Global Wellness Summit (GWS) has announced the focus of its third annual Call for Innovation competition: Wellness and the Metaverse.

The competition encourages companies across the globe which are innovating new metaverse and Web3 solutions in any wellness sector to apply – from early-stage startups to large, established companies.

The winner will be crowned at the 2022 conference – hosted at the Hilton Tel Aviv from 31 October to 3 November – where they’ll have the opportunity to present their concept to hundreds of global industry leaders.

“The pandemic has spurred the wellness industry to be less tech-averse and our organisation wants to drive early innovation in what promises to be a fascinating intersection between wellness and the metaverse,” explained Nancy Davis, GWS chief creative officer and executive director.

According to the GWS, this is the first-ever global competition for startups and established companies now creating health and wellness solutions and experiences for the emerging metaverse and Web3.

Submissions will be judged by 10 international CEOs, business leaders and venture capitalists in the wellness and tech spaces. These will include:

• Amir Alroy, co-founder of Welltech Ventures and co-chair of this year’s GWS.
• Galit Horovitz, co-founder of Welltech Ventures.
• Nir Orren, group director of tech and startups at Meta in Israel.
• Omer Rosenblum, client partner and head of the Wellbeing Vertical at Meta in Israel.
• Aviv Zeevi, VP and head of the Technological Infrastructure Division at the Israel Innovation Institute.
• Anthony Diaz, founder and CEO of Passion for Health.
• Judith Halioua, head of strategy at Nike Data Science Innovation.
• Mia Kyricos, president and chief love officer (CEO) of Kyricos & Associates.
• Frank Pitsikalis, VP of strategy for Agilysys.
• Dean Rubin, chief technology officer (CTO) of the metaverse wellness centre Yoga Bulldogz.

The competition was founded in 2020 by the GWS and WellTech Ventures, an Israeli fund focused exclusively on investing in the wellness space.

WellTech Ventures has sponsored the competition since 2020, and this year it’s spearheading the competition in addition to being the host sponsor of the Tel Aviv summit. The GWS and Meta (formerly Facebook) are also sponsoring the contest.

Submissions can now be entered here. The competition closes on 20 September.

Previous competition winners
The first winner of the Call for Innovation competition in 2020 was Ilan Samish and his company Amai Proteins.

The GWS reports that Samish and his team are now disrupting the food industry with their protein-based sugar substitute, a new weapon in fighting the metabolic health crisis.

Amai Proteins also recently won the 2022 Extreme Tech Challenge, the largest global competition for entrepreneurs addressing global challenges, where tech legend Bill Gates delivered the keynote at the global finals.

Samish will return to the conference this year and keynote on the company’s next moves in inventing a healthier future for food.