Estonia combined their national hackathon with iDays, which is a every-year hackathon for healthcare students. The event brought together 67 participants, including students from the University of Tartu, Tallinn University of Technology, KOOD/Jõhvi, and exchange students from Austria, Germany, and Hungary.
The hackathon is part of the international Care About IT project, which fosters collaboration between healthcare and IT sectors across Estonia, Finland, Italy, and the Netherlands. In Estonia, the project is coordinated by Tallinn Health Care College, with partners including Ida-Viru Central Hospital, kood/Jõhvi, TNP Konsultations, and Tehnopol.
Tartu Biotechnology Park led the organization of the event, with support from Tallinn Health Care College, TalTech, the Society of Biotech Students, the Estonian Medical Students’ Society, and Tehnopol. Participants formed 11 multidisciplinary teams of 4-7 members to tackle challenges in healthcare innovation. Of the 11 challenges, four were proposed by the students themselves, while the remaining seven were selected from ideas suggested by healthcare institutions.
Moderated by Vaido Mikheim, project manager at Startup Estonia, the hackathon featured lectures and workshops on design thinking, pitching, digital healthcare innovations, and marketing. Expert mentors provided valuable support to the teams as they worked on their solutions.
The hackathon concluded with each team presenting their solutions, tackling every pre-defined challenge with innovation and insight. The jury highlighted the following standout projects:
Freedom Lab (3rd place): A sustainable addiction recovery support app that combines science-backed methods with gamification, providing healthcare professionals and patients with a tool to boost treatment effectiveness and patient engagement. The team was awarded Startup Day tickets.
BactoShip (2nd place): A rapid antibiotic detection kit aimed at addressing antibiotic resistance by reducing antibiotic use and exploring innovative alternatives for global health. The team received five hours of mentorship from Tartu Biotechnology Park and a €500 prize.
ORchestrate (1st place): An application for optimizing operating room scheduling and utilization. This time-saving solution enhances operating room efficiency and satisfaction for both healthcare providers and patients. The team won $2,000 in Amazon Web Services credits, four tickets to the Budapest iDays winners' hackathon in November, and entry to the international Care About IT hackathon in spring 2025.
Tehnopol and Tallinn Health Care College were represented in coaching, organising and judging the teams, and in benefit of Tehnopol's representation on the judging panel, we were able to influence the winning team for the Care About IT challenge.
Students who participated in the hackathon emphasized the value of networking, creative thinking, and gaining new insights. They strongly encourage fellow students to engage in such enriching experiences in the future.
As the feedback from the hackathon has been very good and as a result, cooperation agreements have already been made for the coming year.
