Innovation+hackathon=innovathon

Innovathon is an event that drifts away from the classical, code-only, IT-oriented hackathons and tries to bring together multidisciplinary teams and help them find innovative solutions for real-world healthcare challenges that local NGOs and companies face today.

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we will hold trainings held by professional trainers, team building activities and challenges to help you develop the right mindset for innovation and develop the skills needed to succeed. Mandatory presence. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday you’ll put into practice what you’ve learn in a hackathon-like event.

We will come up with a comprehensive answer shortly. Stay tuned!

Absolutely yes. Our proposed challenges can’t be viewed from a tech perspective only, you will definitely need a doctor, a designer, maybe a public health specialist, a psychologist, a lawyer or an economist. Every mind willing to create an innovative solution is welcome.

Besides from your precious time, which we promise won’t be wasted, this event is completely free of charge.

Please bring your laptop and charger, notebook, pen and pencils, comfortable clothes, headphones and music, glasses and medication if necessary, whatever else you might need to complete your project including installed software or wearables. Optionally you can bring an extension cord and a Wi-Fi dongle.

You can remain overnight, but there will not be a designated resting area, only a chill-out zone with a couple of beanbags. We do not provide mats so you will need to bring your own mat and sleeping bag.

Please find more details about mandatory on-site presence in our House Rules.

Yes, there will be representatives of the companies/NGOs providing the challenges, available for consultation.

Yes, there will. You can bring a Wi-fi dongle as backup if you want though.

Yes. Any language you feel comfortable with is fine for us. However, you should only use licensed copies of software. In developing your solution, you should not use content that is copyrighted, protected by trade secret or otherwise subject to third-party intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights, unless you are the owner of such rights or have permission from their rightful owner to use the content. We recommend using only third-party works that are licensed through an open-source (for software), open-hardware (for electronics) or creative commons license (for all other works).

We will provide wireless internet connection, extension cords (limited number), plenty of pens, paper, markers and flip charts.

As there will be a limited number of spots, selections of the participants will take place:
The first selection will be based on the registration form. We highly recommend that you answer the questions carefully.
After Monday evening each participant will be part of a team: 15 teams must be formed in order for you to know who you will work with for the next period.
On the first day of trainings and team building activities there will be a Scavenger hunt, adapted for the idea of innovation. Your work on this challenge will be graded, the points you get representing 25% of the final score.

On Wednesday there will be a competition for distributing the challenges. The selection will be subjective, based on a speech about your motivation and ideas for approaching a specific challenge. The presentations will be 3 minutes long followed by a 2 minutes Q&A section. Your speech will be graded, these points representing 75% of the final score.

There will be 2 teams working on each challenge! We will kindly ask you to choose your aimed challenge based on the established hierarchy. If the challenge you talked about in your speech is already taken by 2 teams with higher scores, you will choose one of the remaining challenges.

At the end of the day, we will have our finalists! There will be 12 teams left working on 6 challenges, for the upcoming 48 hour innovathon.

By being a participant at this innovathon, you acknowledge that the solution you develop is the intellectual property of the partner who provided the challenge. Further collaboration and follow-ups will be discussed between the partner and the participants!