BENGALURU: The first of its kind medical device hackathon, “ReImagineHealth 2019” was conducted in the city recently.
Fourteen teams consisting of 64 participants took part in the hackathon with each team having at least one person from the field of finance, engineering and medical along with mentors who have experience in these fields. Team Novae, who presented ‘Sonic Walker’ – a walker that helps detect obstacles and alerts the user, Team Decubators, who presented better and cheaper ways to prevent pressure ulcers in non-ambulatory patients, and Team iDams, who presented Eye(i) Drops Dispensing Aid and Monitoring Systems, emerged as winners of the hackathon.
“The focus of this hackathon was on geriatric healthcare and new innovations that would help improve the quality of life for senior citizens. We intend to place selected participants of the hackathon in the technology business incubator which we have in association with the state government. Winners will be able to take their products and services to the next level. The main objective is to stimulate and cultivate systemic innovation in the development of products for the Elderly Care and MedTech (Diagnostics, Monitoring and Rehabilitation),” said Prof Amaresh Chakrabati, chair, IISc Press Senior Professor and Chairman.
The event was supported by MedTech and Geriatric Healthcare Technology Business Incubator, Centre for Product Design and Manufacturing, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), K-Tech, state government, various companies, hospitals, policy bodies, entrepreneurs, legal and regulatory organisations and NGOs in the city.
ReImagineHealth 2019 aims to provide technologically advanced and socially sustainable needs of senior citizens to help them continue to be independent, agile and enjoy their life to the fullest.
“Through ReImagineHealth 2019, we have been able to radically change the field of geriatric healthcare with the use of new innovative technology to increase life expectancy among senior citizens with conditions like dementia, Alzheimer’s, general debility and loss of memory. The goal is to attempt to give senior citizens a normal life. We have two hackathon series that we run with our partners –ReImagineHealth and ReImagineWaste. The latter is for reutilising waste in different ways and improving quality of life,” he said.
