This morning, the 2015 mHealth Grand Tour began, with cyclists across the globe setting off for the first leg of the Tour from Brussels to Paris. Cyclists will ride past the sites of Waterloo and Mons, the location of the last Western Front in 1918, on route to Cambrai, where they will end day one of the Tour.
After weeks of preparation and training, riders from Team GSMA, Peter Montgomery, Kate Ford, Nenad Simunko, Simon Picking and Gavin Griffiths are now underway. Gavin represented the enthusiasm and eagerness of the team before the first leg: ‘I am excited, not nervous, looking forward to it – never done anything like this before. Running is my passion, I run marathons, so this is going to be a new experience’

To mark the occasion, experts and senior representatives from the European Parliament, the European Commission, industry and various healthcare professional organisations gathered for the ‘policymakers breakfast’, where they discussed the key role Mobile can play in managing health conditions.

Afke Schaart, Vice President Europe, GSMA, introduced the event and stated that ‘the case for mobile in managing day-to-day health conditions has never been stronger’ and ‘In the wake of the 2015 mHealth Grand Tour, we hope to see more governments and organisations commit to Mobile Health solutions after seeing how effective they can be in the field.’ Nonetheless, the congregation of so many high profile experts and representatives at the Tour’s inaugural event, is in itself a step towards the market-readiness of Mobile Health solutions.
Following the policymakers breakfast, attendees were invited to a networking event in the Autoworld Museum, which featured a number of demonstrations showing of the power of Mobile Health. Demos were exhibited by partners of the mHealth Grand Tour – some of which included technology used on the Tour, whilst others showcased health and wellness solutions in other areas – all of which a clearly showed the huge potential of Mobile has in the health sector.
At the event, the GSMA had two cutting edge demonstrations- a Virtual Reality Tour and a Connected Technology Showcase.
Virtual Reality tour:
The GSMA Connected Living Programme invited the attendees of the mHealth Grand Tour networking reception to enter a unique virtual reality world. Oculus Rift headsets allowed visitors to enter the mobile network, viewing it from the inside and taking in the expanding world of connected devices and services.
Connected Technology Showcase:
Attendees had the opportunity to test and try a number of the latest innovative connected products such as wearables and a connected tennis racket for real time feedback on your game.

The mHealth Grand Tour is celebrated as a leading example of how the global health issues such as diabetes can be effectively combatted using Mobile Health solutions.
This is the first of several updates that Connected Living will be providing throughout the Tour – to discover how our riders and their solutions performed during stage one of the Tour, visit Connected Living on Monday 7 September.