Frankel CVC co-sponsors Health Care Hackathon

Are you a scientist? Nurse? Physician? Technician? Have you ever thought “there must be a better way” or “I wish I had…”?

A health care hackathon is an opportunity to join forces with engineers, IT professionals, designers and people with broad and diverse expertise to tackle complex health care problems and prototype solutions.

Join the Frankel Cardiovascular Center for Ann Arbor’s second annual Health Care Hackathon* with a specific goal of removing barriers to health care, globally and locally. The top three solution concepts or prototypes will be awarded monetary and/or business support prizes to help the winning teams take their concepts to market.

The Hackathon is seeking participants at several levels, especially students, trainees, faculty members, staff members and alumni in health and engineering/programming/design fields who have an interest in removing barriers to health care.

If you have a specific, nagging problem, or the thought that there should be a better way to help your patients or your research project, this is an opportunity to bring it forward, “pitch” it in 30 seconds, and form a cross-functional team with other participants to hack it with you. But even if you don’t have an idea, let the keynotes and pitches of others inspire you and bring your skills to the table to make a difference.

The event is organized by a local nonprofit, Ann Arbor Health Hacks (A2H2) with the goal to promote health care innovation and the local health care startup ecosystem by organizing health care hackathons.

Final registration for the event closes on Monday, June 19; Applicants can expect to hear back by June 21.

Here’s a look at the Hackathon schedule:

Opening Reception: Friday, June 23, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.

• Downtown Ann Arbor, location to be sent to accepted participants

• Will include opening remarks and networking opportunities

Hackathon: 8 a.m. Saturday, June 24 until 3 p.m. Sunday, June 25

• U-M medical campus location, location to be sent to accepted participants

• Yes, the hacking can go late into the night, but there’s food, coffee, your teammates and mentors to keep you going!  Final judging will begin late-morning on Sunday.

To learn more about the event, or read about last year’s winners, click here.

* The term “hackathon” refers to an event where people collaborate, putting their skills and knowledge together to make something new, often in marathon innovation sessions called “hackathons.”  Hackathons focus on bringing teams of volunteers together to make new gadgets, websites or apps, or brainstorming prototypes or business models, based on a specific need or opportunity. Often, there’s a prize at the end for the best ideas, to help fuel them to move to the next level of development.

Website: https://www.a2healthhacks.org/