Translate MedTech supports COVID-19 Innovation Response Hackathon

Translate MedTech were proud supporters of the MedTech Foundation’s recent COVID-19 Innovation Response Virtual Hackathon, which ran between Friday 3 April and Sunday 5 April and sought to address critical health-related issues resulting from COVID-19.

How it worked

123 potential innovators (64 academics, 38 medical students, 12 industry representatives and 9 NHS doctors) gathered to address challenge topics ranging from hospital care and public health to health education and digital training.

Participants were split into multi-disciplinary teams, connected via online messaging, teleconferencing and file sharing platforms, and asked to each submit a project proposal and business canvass by the end of weekend.

Hackathon outcomes

The project teams successfully generated 12 unique solution concepts by the end of the virtual hackathon.

In the 11 days since, the following has been achieved:

  • Development has begun on three digital solutions, each of which is now at beta-stage for preliminary testing (one solution, MedWise, can be found online here).
  • One project team is due to submit an application for collaborative development funding imminently – if successful, further development will begin immediately.
  • Another team has finished developing a data collection app to help the Cambridge Clinical Trials Unit collect data for their COVID-19 research.

William Bolton, NHS Doctor and MedTech Foundation Co-Founder said “This was the first hackathon we have run virtually, and I was unsure if it would work. I am pleased to report it went better than expected. The teams really took to it and there was so much interdisciplinary collaboration contributing to the fight against COVID-19.

It’s a timely reminder that working with different disciplines is essential in medtech, and now we know that we can do this virtually, it opens up a whole new direction for the MedTech Foundation.

Our work isn’t possible without the continued support of our long-term partners. A huge thank you goes particularly to Translate MedTech and the NIHR Surgical MIC for their support in delivering this hackathon and moving the ideas forward.”

Future opportunities to get involved

The MedTech Foundation team hope to run more virtual innovation workshops and hackathons in the coming weeks. If you’d like to be involved, follow MedTech Foundation on Facebook or Twitter to be among the first to know when a new activity is launched.

We are continuously updating our website with opportunities for medtech innovators to provide support for frontline healthcare workers, click here to learn more.