Promising tech solutions to opioid crisis awarded in Ohio competition's second phase

Ohio officials on Wednesday announced the winners of the second phase of an $8 million competition for projects tackling the state’s opioid abuse crisis. The 12 winning ideas, which each received $200,000, include an online platform that can monitor opioid use, a website that helps addicts find recovery service providers and an application to prevent relapse of opioid use.

The Ohio Opioid Technology Challenge is a three-phase, prize-based competition to identify technology-based solutions that address the state’s rising opioid addiction problem. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 3,613 Ohioans died from opioid overdoses in 2016, giving the state a rate of 32.9 opioid-related deaths per 100,000 people, the third-highest rate of any state in the country.