Innovation 4 Health’s Health Hack Competition is a University of Calgary-sponsored competitive educational program that connects multidisciplinary student innovators with medical professionals and entrepreneurs who have real-world challenges in healthcare. In the program, innovator teams design solutions over a six week period, then build functional prototypes in a 72-hour hardware hackathon event on campus. The teams then prepare a compelling demo and pitch presentation to compete for $20,000 in awards. The program’s primary purpose is to spark novel, meaningful collaborations that last long after the program has ended, in addition to providing opportunities to hone technical and user-centered design skills.

This is the second year the program is being run and will focus on addressing medical challenges related to Diagnostics & Monitoring.  Since last year’s competition (in Surgery & Recovery), winning teams have gone on to iterate on their designs, incorporate businesses, participate in incubator programs to develop skills, and compete (and win) other pitch competitions.

Our 19 innovator teams will present working solutions for each of their healthcare challenges and compete for $20,000 in funding and in-kind services. Leading up to this event, innovators have formed teams around 19 unique challenges related to Diagnostics & Monitoring, then spent 6 weeks planning, designing, and networking to prepare for the 72-hour Health Hack Weekend where they created working prototypes of their solutions. You can find out more about the competition at www.innovation4health.com.

At Demo Day, teams will be pitching on-stage and presenting their designs at demo booths to a diverse judging panel and the public. Awards will be presented to top teams so that they have the opportunity to advance their solutions to the next stage. If you’re interested in attending the event, register here.