Table 1

CAMTech healthcare hackathon model

ComponentTimeline
Prehackathon
1. Advertise hackathon and solicit mentors with domain expertise
  • Event website, social media, flyers, emails and word of mouth

1–3 months in advance
2. Curate both applicants and mentors
  • Patients (when possible) and clinicians

  • Engineers and designers

  • Business personnel

1 month in advance
3. Some problems (ie, pain points) posted on an event website
  • Clinical/public health challenges solicited from experts and partner organisations

1 month in advance
4. Clinical site visits
  • Participants tour partner healthcare facilities and hold discussions with providers

1–2 days in advance
5. Clinical summits
  • Clinical, public health and policy experts discuss challenges

1 day in advance
6. Social mixer
  • Participants socialise to initiate cross-disciplinary relationships

Evening before a hackathon
Hackathon48 hours
Day 1
  • Introductory speeches highlighting challenges and incentive prizes; introduction to ‘hacking’

  • One-minute problem verbalisations (pitching pain points)

  • Team formation and registration

  • Hacking and mentoring


AM
PM
Day 2
  • Hacking and mentoring

  • Practise concept pitches

  • Three-minute team concept pitches

  • ‘After the hack’ opportunities and suggestions

  • Hackathon awards


AM
PM
Posthackathon
1. Innovation mentorship
  • Tailored individual project mentorship

  • Co-creation laboratory space for prototyping and project maturation

  • Connection with targeted organisations/individuals having stage-specific skills needed by teams

  • Networking, mentorship and dissemination of opportunities and information through resources such as the online CAMTech Innovation Platform

Anytime
  • Monetary awards to the most promising innovations

  • Grant writing mentorship and workshops

  • Dissemination/notification of additional funding sources

30–90 days posthackathon and beyond
3. Entrepreneurial expertise
  • Facilitation of teams through existing Business Accelerators*

  • Entrepreneurial group learning through 2-day Entrepreneur Bootcamps (these consist of in-person, intensive workshops with guest experts designed to enhance participant entrepreneurial skill in the medical technology space)

  • Facilitation and funding through the CAMTech Business Accelerator Program

Variable
  • *Business Accelerator: a business programme that includes mentorship, educational components and networking that aims to grow a business rapidly. The CAMTech Accelerator Program includes the resources available on the CAMTech Innovation Platform in addition to more in-depth team coaching at frequent intervals.

  • CAMTech, Consortium for Affordable Medical Technologies.