1 February 2019

On January 30, it was the 1st anniversary of the Centre Axel. On this occasion, more than 60 people came to discover the achievements of this first year of activities.

During 2018, these activities included:

• 5 discussion workshops for managers, partners, clinicians, researchers and members of the private sector to discover the potential of new technologies in mental health research.
• The creation of the Collective, a network for stake holders in mental health that allows them to exchange and collaborate.
• The IDÉE contest, an accelerating program concerning the implementation of technology projects by researchers. This contest hopes to generate validated and potentially marketable prototypes. 3 projects were supported as part of the first cohort.
• Participation in Hackerfest 2018, a 24-hour co-development marathon. 3 research teams were able to join this event.
• Participation in the Coopérathon 2018, a 25-day open innovation competition that took place in 7 different cities. For the Axel Challenge that was proposed during this event, Compos Mentis won the competition and achieved this challenge in mental health.

For Stéphane Guay, Co-Director of the Centre Axel, "this first year was an opportunity to position the Centre Axel in a vibrant ecosystem. We brought together players from the private, community and academic sectors to collaborate together. All these actors hope to find solutions to new challenges.”

2019 represents a year of further development for the Centre Axel and the opportunity to further promote the use of new technologies in the field of mental health.