Hackathon

This hackathon aims to explore and innovate new healthcare applications using virtual and/or augmented reality. For this particular hackathon, there will be no boundaries set within the healthcare space. Participants are free to explore any aspect of healthcare that drives their interest.

Final submissions will be judged on a well thought out and outlined idea for further development. Any prototype development during the hackathon is great, but due to the time limit of this hackathon, emphasis should be placed on ideation rather than rapid prototyping.

Who can participate?

We are encouraging a wide range of participants including programmers, developers, designers, clinicians, patient advocates, researchers and entrepreneurs.

The success of a medical hackathon depends heavily on a good mix of people with medical and technological expertise.

In the organization of this hackathon, we have two specific team components required of each team:

1) Each team needs to have a medical practitioner as an active participant. This can be a doctor, nurse, medical researcher, emergency medical technician, etc. We will be partnering with one or more medical institutions to provide interested medical participants.

2) Through a collaborative partnership with the Creating IT Futures foundation, we also require each team to have a student participant. The goal is to expose younger people to STEM areas of study for career development.

The student will not be required to meet any technical prerequisites, but must have a good attitude and interest to be involved and help where possible. It will be the responsibility of the team leader and event organizers working together to facilitate their involvement.

What kind of computer and Internet connection do I need to participate?

As long as you have a computer with browser access to the Internet, and your connection speed is pretty good, you won’t have trouble participating.

I’d like to participate, but I don’t have a team. What do I do?

Individuals without a team are very much encouraged to participate. Simply signup online, and designate that it’s just you right now, and we’ll help you get connected to other individuals to form a team.

How many teams will there be?

There will be between 10 to 25 teams, each team consisting of a minimum of 2 participants and a maximum of 5 participants.

Who is the team leader?

Each team must have a designated team leader before the hackathon officially starts on February 13th, 2017. It is the team leader’s responsibility to ensure your team members coordinate and talk with other, and that your team members are provided as much opportunity to be involved. Submission of the final project is also the responsibility of the team leader. Ultimately, the success or failure of the team will fall on the shoulders of the team leader.

Because of this responsibility, the team leader of the winning team will receive the HTC Vive Headset grand prize. All team members of the winning team will receive a MergeVR headset.

Where will this hackathon take place?

The hackathon will be run virtually, and teams themselves can be based anywhere in the world. Through this design, we can open the opportunity to a much larger audience, making it much more convenient for participants to get involved.

It will be the team leader’s responsibility to manage and communicate with the team virtually. A set of online tools will be suggested by the event organizers before the hackathon begins to help make online collaboration easier.

When will the hackathon take place?

That hackathon will officially start at Midnight PST, Monday February 13th, 2017 and end at 11:59pm PST, Monday February 20th, 2017.

Judging will take place virtually online from February 21-24, 2017 and winners will be announced on Monday, February 27th, 2017.

Teams will be invited to participate that day online in a virtual reality conference event hosted and run on-site from Las Vegas.

How does this work exactly?

Online teams must be finalized by 11:59pm PST, Friday, February 10th. Teams will be allowed to converse online as soon as their team is formed and finalized to discuss and agree on a project idea before the official start of the hackathon. Teams that are organized earlier will benefit from the extra planning time.