From left: Dr Adrian Rutledge, Myeda Kamal, Thomas McCartan and John Gorman with Matt Moran, Director of BioPharmaChem Ireland (2nd left). Image: Gary O'Neill
3R, a post-stroke recovery and rehabilitation platform, has won the inaugural Irish MIT health hackathon, picking up the grand prize of €3,000 to put towards its research.
The MIT health hackathon – called MIT Hacking Medicine – took place over the weekend (16-18 September) as a pre-cursor to the larger BioPharma Ambition 2016 (21-22 September), which will showcase the latest research and discuss how Ireland plans to facilitate the health sector.
Organised in partnership with DCU Alpha and BioPharmaChem Ireland, the hackathon saw 100 people across nine teams duke it out to see who could come up with future health concepts that could have a dramatic outcome on the lives of patients.
3R, a post-stroke recovery and rehabilitation platform that uses a user-friendly remote device application to guide, assist and monitor the rehabilitation of stroke victims in their own homes, was announced as the overall winner.
Having won the grand prize of €3,000, the 3R team has said it intends to meet with stakeholders – including patient groups – to see how the concept could be rolled out in the near future.
Finishing in second place, with a prize of €2,000, was Safe-Hands, a smart hand sanitising system developed by Mingle Connect.
Finally, in third place, was Sun, Sea & Surgery, a pan European bed shortage solution.
‘Each came with great ideas’
Throughout the hackathon, the participants worked with 37 mentors from a variety of sectors, including biopharma, health, technology and software, among others.
Commenting at the event, MIT Hacking Medicine co-director, Khalil Ramadi, said: “We were delighted to bring the MIT Hacking Medicine concept to Ireland for the first time, and have to commend all of the teams that participated.
“Each came with great ideas and worked all weekend to deliver really impressive concepts and pitches.”
The director of BioPharmaChem Ireland, Matt Moran, said: “The biopharma industry in Ireland is all about innovation, with over 25,000 talented people within the industry in Ireland, delivering innovative solutions to patients both here and globally.
“We are delighted to have MIT Hacking Medicine and DCU Alpha work with us on this event to demonstrate innovation in this sector at its best, with the ultimate goal to improve patients’ lives.”
The other participants in the hackathon included:
- IWasteNot – a cost-effective medical waste solution
- Team Capture – a system that alerts a doctor when a patient has a rare disease
- iBed – a bed management algorithm to alert when a free bed is available
- DiaSens – a non-invasive monitoring device for diabetics
- MediTrack – a program to track details and accounts for a patient’s medical issues
- FitsLikea
