TalTech's Digital Health Hackathon won by team Männlich
Five new ideas were launched during a two day hackathon at TalTech’s Digital Health master’s program. The student teams found innovative solutions for mentoring medical students, supporting women’s fertility, digitalising blood group information in the patient portal, and detecting stroke with a smart mobile device.
Team Männlich that offered a digital platform for monitoring, supporting, and improving men’s health after a heart attack, was chosen as the winner of the hackathon. According to team members, Estonian middle-aged men tend to disappear from the doctors’ reach after their first heart attack and its treatment. “We want to offer them the best way to live for many more healthy years,” said Männlich’s member Maaris Lõkk.
She added that in general there are support groups for men, who have suffered from a heart attack, that provide them with the necessary help and support. For example, there is an e-clinic for men in Estonia, but according to Lõkk, it does not offer support during the entire treatment process. “On our platform, we provide expert support as well as doctor’s consultations. In addition, the user can challenge themselves by competing with other men, who have been in a similar situation to collect points and win prizes,” she explained.
Kadi Lubi, the program manager of the Digital Health curriculum, said that this year’s hackathon focused on problem validation and science based approach, i.e. choosing a suitable theory to support the development of the solution. “When creating innovative e-health solutions, it is important to scientifically justify why this problem exists and why it needs to be solved,” Lubi said. She commented that it is necessary to give the students an experience during their studies in the form of a hackathon, where they can take risks and make mistakes while creating innovative solutions in a safe environment.
Members of the Männlich team were awarded with fast-track access to the Tehnopol Startup Incubator panel and an opportunity to take part in one of the largest startup and technology events, Latitude59.
Students continue to develop their ideas during the spring semester of the Digital Health curriculum. Teams will focus even more on the validation of their solution, including the creation of a research plan that supports the development of the solution. Focus is also on teamwork as well as the IT architecture and business model. For the first time, within the framework of the semester project, the teams partner up with international students from EM Lyon Business School's Health Management and Data Intelligence Master's program. The aim of the partnership is to encourage international cooperation and provide hackathon teams with outside expertise and a fresh point of view to help with possible further developments.
19 students from the Digital Health master’s program participated in the hackathon. Several experts in the field contributed to the event, who offered the participants mentorship and support for the development of their solutions over the course of two days. The jury panel consisted of Peeter Ross (TalTech), Priit Kruus (Dermtest, TalTech), Kadri Tammai (Tehnopol Startup Incubator), Oliver Dalberg (Viveo Health), Teele Orgse (TalTech) and Kristjan Pilt (TalTech).
