Health-related hackathons seek diverse participants

November will feature at least two hackathons that tackle complex health challenges with tech and multidisciplinary expertise. One is natHacks from the Network for Applied Technology, better known as NAT. Its annual hackathon takes place from Nov. 6 to 9 at the University of Alberta's Donadeo Innovation Centre for Engineering; the deadline to register is Nov. 1. The event pairs problem-solving teams with problem providers who have firsthand knowledge of gaps across various specialties. This year, natHacks is tackling healthcare and accessibility, defence and security, and construction and manufacturing. Within health and accessibility, the sample niches are independence, accessible design, assistive technology, diagnostics, rehabilitation, and patient support. The hackathon will have more than 400 participants, making it the biggest hackathon in Alberta this year, CEO Eden Redman told Taproot in an email. Twelve winners will collectively receive more than $25,000 in cash and in-kind prizes, which could include legal support, cloud resources, mentorship, and technical infrastructure.

Prizes matter because sometimes ideas don't live past the hackathon. When the event started in 2019, NAT's hackathons had an "abysmal" 5% to 7% project-continuation rate, NAT industry lead Scott Gerke told Taproot in July. Even just a few hundred dollars of cash or in-kind support can make a massive difference. "If you give them a little bit of funding, then you're gonna have 10 or 100 times the number of projects continuing out of the events across the ecosystem," Gerke said. It's also important to bring people of different backgrounds together; natHacks started out with mostly computer science students, but it now attracts participants studying neuroscience, engineering, business, and the life sciences.

The other event to look forward to next month is the Climate + Health Hackathon from the U of A's Climate Change + Health Hub. It takes place at Enterprise Square on Nov. 28. Participants will work on a tool to centralize wildfire evacuees' requests for shelter, medical aid, and other supports, which are often disconnected and challenging to navigate. Like NAT, organizers are calling for participants from varied backgrounds and will provide incentives: pre-processed datasets, cloud and agentic tools, and mentors, including some from Microsoft. Registration is due by Nov. 16.