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Pandemics need problem-solvers.

Lend your ingenuity to healthcare and help the world feel better.

Thanks for participating in HCL’s #CodeforCovid19 BetterHealth Hackathon! We loved the amazing amount of projects submitted and we were excited to see how high quality they all were.

Congratulations to our 1st place winner, Crowding Indicator Alert! As well as our 2nd place winner, CoVidSpy! Also, a big shoutout and congratulations to our 4 Challenge winners:

  • Challenge 1 - Katabi
  • Challenge 2 - Protego
  • Challenge 3 - Co-Cell 
  • Challenge 4 - Precision Drug Predictor

We also have internal HCL team winners to announce! In 1st place we have COVID-19 Enterprise Pandemic Management Platform and in 2nd place, COVIDATOR! Our HCL team challenge winners are…

  • Challenge 1 - VitalWatch
  • Challenge 2 - eEmpathy
  • Challenge 3 - Sanjeevani
  • Challenge 4 - AHEM

In collaboration with and featuring leaders from

This is our chance to #CodeforCovid19 and build a better future

In a time of great uncertainty, disruption, and isolation, how can technology keep us connected and help the world get better, and emerge stronger, together to a brighter future?


Better solutions aren’t born in isolation but out of great collaboration. In the face of any crisis, we share a common vision of a better world and work together to bring that vision within reach. This collaboration has been the essence of all human innovation.


This is why - now more than ever - we need to find ways to come together as innovators, leaders, and empathetic human beings.


It is how we will face the uncertainties of tomorrow.

It is our key to shaping a healthier world.

And it is our best chance to build a better future.

How Does It Work?

Sign up, form a team, choose a problem or identify your own challenge from the four themes below, start coding to build a solution under the mentorship of experts, qualify for the finals and get ready to be judged by an elite panel. 

Step 3 - Final Pitches:

August 24-28th


  • After the submission deadline, we select up to 32 finalist teams.
  • Schedule a pitch session: Teams can "Tele-pitch" their project by booking a session with panel members live.
  • The top two winners will receive cash prizes, as well as challenge prizes for the top project of each category.
  • The winning teams will be announced on August 31st.

Step 1 - Signup:

NOW!

  • Register now and start working and engaging with mentors as soon as you sign up.
  • Choose from one of the 4 tracks. Your project doesn't have to fit perfectly into any one track, it could be a mix and match of several (or all of them)
  • Signing up alone? BeMyApp will work with you to find a team.
  • If you sign up as a team, you can sign up together and work on the platform through separate user accounts.

Step 2 - Virtual Hackathon:

Submissions due by August 14th


  • We are holding a 2 month virtual hackathon on a dedicated platform for ideation. Get mentorship, healthcare and industry advice, as well as technical support and resources for your project from numerous companies. 
  • We’ll have webinars and online support to make sure that by month two, you’ll have a working prototype or production ready demo to pitch to the panel if selected as a finalist.

*Please note that the hackathon has been extended! Thank you for all your feedback, we hear you!  We're giving you an additional 3 weeks to continue working on your great solutions. Projects are now due and must be submitted on the event platform by August 14th at 11:59pm ET (was previously July 22nd).

Challenges

Prevention & Containment:

#StayAtHome


How can technology aid efforts to #FlattenTheCurve by offering a better quality of life to encourage people to #StayAtHome? Ideas appreciated to better safeguard the most vulnerable in our communities through neighborhood cooperation, better communicate credible information, and help people better cope with the challenges of self-isolation impacting their physical and mental well-being, in the process preventing the overload of healthcare systems through behaviors that minimize the risk of community spread.

Diagnosis, Treatment

& Therapeutic Management

Help better protect and equip frontline healthcare workers and first responders, and enable those seeking treatments and cures for COVID-19 with solutions that scale telemedicine, remote/self-diagnosis and virtual triaging of symptoms, better resource and medical inventory management for hospitals and clinics, as well as ideas that could accelerate drug discovery, testing and clinical trial efforts for vaccine development.

Recovery & Return to Normal

As societies #FlattenTheCurve and ease up on varying levels of economic lockdowns and global travel, healthcare systems will continue to face challenges with potential spikes in infections and seasonal waves of confirmed cases requiring medical attention. In the absence of a tested, mass vaccine or therapeutic, how can technology safeguard communities that will return to workplaces, mass transit systems, public spaces, dining & retail outlets as well as gradually into sports arenas, cinemas, theatres and concerts.

Systemic Solutions for Crisis & Pandemic Management

Ideate innovative uses for next-gen technologies to better plan for the long term implications of COVID-19 and better prepare for future global pandemic-related challenges across healthcare and public services ecosystems



Judging and Prizes

Your projects will be judged on the following criteria:

INNOVATION

Is the project new and disruptive?

TECHNICAL EXECUTION

How has the team effectively utilized the available technologies, 

and how advanced is the solution?

CHALLENGE FIT

Relevance to COVID-19 / Pandemic related problems

$20,000

GRAND

PRIZE

2ND PLACE

$10,000

One winner for the best idea across the 4 tracks of  $2,500

(4 total challenge prizes)

HCL Employees will be competing separately and are eligible for an independent prize pool worth $10,000. Click HERE to learn more about the specific rules and conditions for HCL participants.

Judges & Advisors

Eva Telecka

Hub Lead for IT Risk Management and Security & Liaison Lead for EMEA RegionMSD

Dr. Bronwyn King AO

Chief Executive OfficerTobacco Free Portfolios

Dr. Jessica Gallagher

Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Global Engagement and EntrepreneurshipThe University of Queensland

Sally Ann Frank

Health & Life Sciences IoT Advisor, Global Black BeltMicrosoft

Dr. Rahul Kalia

Medical Director, IndiaInternational SOS

Dr. Mohamed Zaki

Deputy Director of the Cambridge Service Alliance
University of Cambridge

Dr. Youseph Yazdi

Executive Director, Center for Bioengineering Innovation & DesignJohns Hopkins University

Dr. Greg Jakubowski

Regional Medical Director, Corporate Solutions, Asia International SOS

Dawid Konotey-Ahulu

FounderRedington Ltd, Mallowstreet Ltd

Vaida Cesnuleviciute

Adviser to the PresidentOffice of the President of Lithuania

Lars Gehrmann

Digital Health Venture Architect Wellcare EcosystemZurich Insurance Switzerland

Itumeleng Makgati

Group CISO and Vice PresidentSasol

Nolan Bennett

Chief Information OfficerOtsuka Pharmaceutical Companies

Dr. Garang M. Dut

Fellow in Health SystemsAustralian National University

Vijay Gullapalli, Ph.D

Head of Advanced AnalyticsBlue Cross NC

David Pace

Director, Digital Marketing ITMSD

Souad Tenfiche

CEO NUMA Bangalore & Co-President La French Tech - India

Agam Upadhyay

SVP, Chief Technology OfficerGSK

Dorothea Wong

Executive DirectorCollins Aerospace

Patrick Wheeler

Executive Director, Center for Digital StrategiesTuck School of Business

Kris McKinstrey

Director, Digital Transformation Lead for Global Animal Health& UK AH ITMSD

Waldemar Hummer

Head of EngineeringZurich Insurance Switzerland

Parag Karnik

Vice President, Global Head Of Engineering and Operations
Johnson & Johnson

Naveen Valluri

Principal PM Architect in Health AIMicrosoft

Roger Süess

Chief Executive Officergreen.ch AG

Gerry Lewis

Senior Vice President and CIOAscension

Amitabha Bandyopadhyay

KENT Entrepreneurship and Innovation Chair ProfessorIIT Kanpur

Nikhil Aggarwal

CEO, Foundation for Innovation &Research in Science & Technology (FIRST)
IIT Kanpur

Pawel Gora

Chief Executive OfficerQuantum AI Foundation

Dr. Gerd Mann

Head IT and Head IT DepartmentPaul Scherrer Institute

Frank Wetters

Global IT Lead - A.I., Analytics, RPA, (Financial & Non-Financial) RiskING

Michael Biron

SVP - Credit, Fraud & Settlement LeaderSynchrony

Nixa Risk

Global Technology Leader and Product Line Owner, HCPJohnson & Johnson MD&D

Sandra Bryant

Director, Business SystemsCollins Aerospace

Jay Smith

Chief Information OfficerTracFone Wireless

Jacob Elisha

Senior Director, OneMD Service and Repair Program Leader
Biosense Webster, Inc.

Sally McArthur

CSIRO Research + Science Leader and Professor of Biomedical EngineeringSwinburne University of Technology

John Lewis

Senior Director Of EngineeringCollins Aerospace

Dr. Jayesh Jani

Medical Director - Global Emerging MarketsConvaTec

Carsten Falk Hammershøj

Vice President, ITEquinor

Rachel Stahler

Chief Information OfficerOrganon & Co. at Merck

Frequently Asked Questions

1) Am I eligible to participate in this hackathon?

The Better Health Hackathon: #CodeForCovid19 is a global hackathon open to all participants over the age of 18.


2) Can I participate in an individual capacity? How can I form a team if I don't have one already?

You can participate as an individual, or form teams with up to six members. Once you register, you can use our community forum to join teams or form your own.


3) I am an employee of HCL. Are there any restrictions on my participation?

HCL employees are welcome to participate across the same challenge areas, however would have to refer to the specific conditions applicable to their participation in the Terms and Conditions document. HCL employees are also eligible only for a separate prize pool, the details for which can be found here. HCL employees are required to form teams only with fellow HCL employees.


4) What is the format of this Hackathon?

The Better Health Hackathon:#CodeForCovid19 is a virtual event with an 8 week online development phase, with shortlisted teams tele-pitching their solutions live as part of the final round.


5) Are there any restrictions on the kind of technology my team can use for our project?

While we would encourage you to consider other platforms to build your projects, as well tools and solutions from our partners at Microsoft, teams are free to utilize any offerings that best suit their project.


6) Will my team receive any free technology resources to build our project?

22 teams will get the opportunity to work with complimentary Microsoft Azure credits, courtesy our principal partners – Microsoft. Teams will be able to enter into a lottery for a total one-time allotment of $2,500 in Azure Credits by filling out an application that can be found on the event platform. In order to enter the lottery, you must submit an application NOW thru June 24th. The 22 lucky lottery winners will be notified on June 25th.


7) What kind of ideas or solutions are invited for #CodeForCovid19?

Teams can explore potential problem areas detailed under each of our four broad challenge areas. You can choose to pick one of the suggested problem statements or ideate a use case outside the list, which would fit into one (or more) of the four challenge themes.


8) I already have an idea or solution created that would be relevant for #CodeForCovid19. Can I participate?

Yes, you can participate. We encourage teams and participants to avail the mentorship guidance, knowledge resources and learning opportunities on offer across the hackathon to further refine and scale their solution.


9) Who will own the IP of the project I build and enter for the Hackathon?

Projects developed by HCL employees or teams will see their IP owned by the organization. Participants from HCL are allowed to work unrestrcitedly on their projects using organization resources and during regular working hours as a result. 

All other participants and teams retain the rights to the IP they create over the course of the hackathon.


10) Are there any learning and development opportunities available for participants?

Participating teams can look forward to an exciting schedule of live webinars with experts across healthcare, technology and business, as they provide invaluable business insights, perspectives and specialized training. Stay tuned to the platform for the latest updates on upcoming webinars, or view recordings of sessions you may have missed.


11) Will I receive some guidance or mentorship across the development phase?

The Better Health Hackathon: #CodeForCovid19 will empower your efforts with a number of experts who will be available to share feedback and insights across areas of technology, life sciences and healthcare. You can view a list of onboarded mentors in the "Mentors" tab, and you will have the opportunity to schedule interactions or direct questions via the "Conversations" tab. Check the Mentor's profile to understand their availability for interactions.


12) The hackathon has been extended!

Please note that the hackathon has been extended! Thank you for all your feedback, we hear you! We're giving you an additional 3 weeks to continue working on your great solutions. Projects are now due and must be submitted on the event platform by August 14th at 11:59pm ET (was previously July 22nd).