European Healthcare Hackathon
Archive · 2018–2025 · currently on hold

European Healthcare Hackathon

For seven editions, hackers, students, doctors and industry experts spent 48 hours in Prague building working prototypes for real problems from the clinic. This page keeps the record: what was built, who won, and what it looked like.

7editions
74clinical challenges
48 hnon-stop, every time
2018–25Prague, Czech Republic
What it was

A weekend where clinicians handed their hardest problems to people who can build.

The European Healthcare Hackathon (EHH) was an international hackathon tackling pressing challenges in diabetology, cardiology, nephrology, transplant medicine, surgery, and patient care and comfort. It started in 2018 as the Smart Health Hackathon at the First Faculty of Medicine of Charles University, and from 2019 it was hosted by the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine (IKEM) in Prague. In 2021 it took the name European Healthcare Hackathon.

The format stayed the same throughout. Hospital departments and partners brought real challenges and real data. Teams of three were selected from the applicants, attended for free, and had 48 hours to produce a working prototype with doctors and technology mentors on hand. A jury of clinicians and industry experts judged innovation, technical quality and practical potential. Teams kept the intellectual property of what they built.

Several projects continued after the weekend in cooperation with IKEM, and one early winning team, Mild Blue, grew into a medtech startup whose founders later returned as mentors.

The IKEM campus in Prague
Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine (IKEM), Vídeňská 1958, Prague 4 — home of the hackathon from 2019.
Editions

Seven editions, year by year

Results, challenges and numbers as published on the official event pages and press releases at the time.

European Healthcare Hackathon 2025

The winning team, DataRx, connected mechanical circulatory support devices (Impella, ECMO) to the hospital information system: in 48 hours they designed and built a working device, including a 3D-printed camera mount that reads the console screen and transmits its parameters. The same team also took the IKEM Prize and the Caelestinus Prize. Second place went to an automated risk assessment for chronic kidney disease.

Overall winners

  1. 1stDataRx
  2. 2ndAgentic Innovation
  3. 3rdTres Comas

Partner prizes

  • IKEM PrizeDataRx
  • Caelestinus PrizeDataRx
  • InterSystems 1stAgentic Innovation
  • InterSystems 2ndVividly Risky Group
  • InterSystems 3rdBalvan
The 8 challenges
  1. MSP Hub — real-time integration of Impella and ECMO data into the hospital information system
  2. Omron blood pressure monitor integration
  3. Automated proliferation assessment in neuroendocrine tumors (Ki-67)
  4. DIA Guard — automated triage of sensor data from diabetic patients
  5. Automated CKD stratification
  6. Patient Care — gamified tracking of health biomarkers
  7. GenAI — InterSystems IRIS Vector Search
  8. FHIR — InterSystems FHIR Services
EHH 2025 — group photo of all participants on stage at IKEM EHH 2025 — all winning teams on stage with their cheques EHH 2025 — a team hacking EHH 2025 — first place announced EHH 2025 — a team gathered around a laptop EHH 2025 — an IKEM doctor showing hackers the clinical equipment EHH 2025 — the jury during final pitches EHH 2025 — the audience in the IKEM congress hall EHH 2025 — mentors introduced on stage EHH 2025 — hackers at work EHH 2025 — applause in the audience EHH 2025 — a team working in the hacking room EHH 2025 — participants showing their badges

European Healthcare Hackathon 2023

The winner was Tereza the Virtual Nurse, hardware and software in one: a self-service kiosk that helps patients register, collects the data needed for their check-up (for example from glucose sensors) and offers targeted education while they wait. The edition was dominated by artificial intelligence, including large language models. Second place went to a tool for annotating camera footage to improve safety in intensive care, third to AI-assisted preparation of discharge reports.

Overall winners

  1. 1st
    HT Hackers
    Tereza the Virtual Nurse
  2. 2nd
    CloseAI
    VitalWatch
  3. 3rd
    Mild Blue
    Disquill

Partner prizes

  • IKEM Prize
    Qwerty · GlucoMiner
  • AstraZeneca PrizeBiohazard
  • InterSystems 1st
    Čarodějové · PathoSync
  • InterSystems 2nd
    ICU SpyEyes · VitalVision
  • InterSystems 3rd
    VariantCall · PathoX
The 9 challenges
  1. Icebreaker AZ23 — efficient processing and use of genomic sequencing data
  2. EKG-based hospitalization prediction
  3. ICU surveillance system
  4. Efficient glucometer data integration
  5. Gamifying managed healthcare — EDU Automat
  6. Automating albuminuria screening for chronic kidney disease
  7. Automated medical discharge message enhancement
  8. MediDetect AI: Czech diagnosis challenge
  9. Innovate with FHIR
EHH 2023 — group photo with online participants on screen EHH 2023 — HT Hackers with the first-place cheque EHH 2023 — first place for Tereza the Virtual Nurse EHH 2023 — hands-on surgical suturing workshop EHH 2023 — hackers working at a laptop EHH 2023 — an IKEM surgeon teaching hackers EHH 2023 — opening ceremony in the IKEM congress hall EHH 2023 — teams hacking EHH 2023 — mentors introduced on stage EHH 2023 — a team at work EHH 2023 — participant badges EHH 2023 — challenge presentations EHH 2023 — health workshop on the main stage

European Healthcare Hackathon 2022

First place went to team SZN for DiApp, a concept for continuous glucose monitoring of hospitalised diabetes patients. Chronic kidney disease and cardiology were the other strong themes of the year. Partner prizes came from AstraZeneca, Edwards Lifesciences and InterSystems, and IKEM awarded notebooks and VR headsets.

Overall winners

  1. 1st
    SZN
    DiApp
  2. 2nd
    Etilloed
    CKD-xgBoost
  3. 3rd
    Bild Mlue
    Beat Savior

Partner prizes

  • IKEM Prize
    Bindworks Union · Dexcom Board
  • IKEM Prize
    Revolt BI · Reno AI
  • Edwards Lifesciences
    Sentics Brain · ECG Personalized Monitoring
  • AstraZeneca
    DATA MASH · CKD Watch & Etilloed · CKD-xgBoost
  • InterSystems 1st
    [Object object] · NeuraHeart
  • InterSystems 2nd
    Bild Mlue · Beat Savior
  • InterSystems 3rd
    Bindworks Union · Dexcom Board & Easy Chicken · Dia Bro
The 7 challenges
  1. Dia Bro Manager — tracking examinations, devices and medication for diabetes patients
  2. Patient Education Machine
  3. Data Analysis as Life Saver — anomalies in wearable and ECG data
  4. Summon Help Now — alerting nearby paramedics to a resuscitation emergency
  5. Continuous glycemic monitoring in intensive care units
  6. Are you kidneying? — identifying chronic kidney disease patients from lab results
  7. Innovate with FHIR
EHH 2022 — group photo on stage at IKEM

European Healthcare Hackathon 2021

The first edition under the European Healthcare Hackathon name, run as a hybrid event with an on-site track at IKEM and an online track. All three top places went to nephrology and urology projects: measuring urine output in hospitalised patients and early detection of chronic kidney disease. AstraZeneca added a grant for a six-month follow-up collaboration.

Overall winners

  1. 1st
    Bit Beasts
    UrineMeter
  2. 2nd
    TOBOR
    UROGRAM
  3. 3rd
    OrangeIsTheNewHack
    NephroSense

Partner prizes

  • IKEM Prize
    Factorio · zCase Plus
  • IKEM Prize
    Robomeow · Ikemka
  • IKEM Prize
    Bindworks Prime · Wounds Prime
  • IKEM Pharma Special
    futurdg · Futudrg
  • Edwards Lifesciences
    HvN3rQ · Temporal Convolutional Network for AS detection
  • AstraZeneca
    DIBOKA KOaLA & Healthy Tree Friends
  • InterSystems 1st
    Hot Pink · Heart rate detection through a smartphone camera
  • InterSystems 2nd
    Bit Beasts · UrineMeter
  • InterSystems 3rd
    Bindworks Prime · Wounds Prime
The 15 challenges
  1. Heart rate detection using a mobile phone
  2. Measurement of urine output in hospitalized patients
  3. Mobile navigation around IKEM (also for the blind)
  4. National register of individually prepared medicines (IVLP) prescriptions
  5. Volumetry for liver transplantation in VR
  6. Wound image processing and thermal camera image comparison
  7. zCase — forecasting the probability of ambulance arrival
  8. Quantification of small artery disease as a prognostic marker for diabetic foot syndrome
  9. CKD — the stealth assassin whose symptoms don't hurt
  10. Aortic stenosis detection from electrocardiogram data
  11. Aortic stenosis detection via clinical natural language processing
  12. Aortic stenosis detection from non-invasive blood pressure waveforms
  13. 75 and thriving! — remote follow-up of TAVI patients
  14. Heart failure prediction
  15. Innovate with FHIR
EHH 2021 — group photo at the closing ceremony EHH 2021 — Edwards Lifesciences Prize ceremony

Global Smart Health Hackathon Prague 2020

Held fully online during the COVID-19 pandemic, with IKEM as the main clinical partner. Challenges ranged from dosing of insulin and heparin and skin-defect analysis from a phone photo to ICU monitoring, heart failure phenotyping and a COVID-19 patient diary. The winning team, Mild Blue, went on to become a medtech startup.

Overall winners

  1. 1st
    Mild Blue
    CZK 100,000
  2. 2nd
    Quantum Preachers
    CZK 50,000
  3. 3rd
    Stuffed Scientists
    CZK 20,000

Partner prizes

  • IKEM PrizeThe Binary Trio
  • Edwards Lifesciences
    Mild Blue · CZK 50,000
  • Creative DockQuantum Preachers
The 12 challenges
  1. Virtual breviary — optimising the dosing of insulin and heparin
  2. Derma-hacker — analysing a skin defect from a photo
  3. Effect of auxin hormone on plant cells — machine learning for 31P magnetic resonance
  4. The Big Brother in the ICU
  5. Unordinary — tracking unusual patient cases in busy clinical practice
  6. Harpoon echo assessment
  7. Aortic stenosis disease awareness
  8. Early prediction of low cardiac output and low mixed venous oxygen saturation
  9. Phenotyping emergency department patients with acute heart failure
  10. Do I know what drugs I'm taking? And does my doctor know?
  11. Stop amputation — communication between foot clinics
  12. COVID-19 patient diary

Smart Health Hackathon Prague 2019

The first edition hosted by IKEM, in the hospital's own hackerspace and congress centre. The programme mixed hacking with a resuscitation workshop and on-site registration of bone marrow donors. Challenges included a 3D-printed matrix for pancreatic islet transplantation, a glucose meter reader for blind patients, and quality control for automated image analysis.

Final ranking

  1. 1stČuprteam
  2. 2ndBinary Trio
  3. 3rdHax Partyzans
  4. 4thThe Makers
  5. 5thFluffy Armadillo

Prizes

  • CEE Hacks PrizeČuprteam
  • City of Prague PrizeStudent Dreamers
  • IKEM PrizeCellhunters
  • MEDICON PrizeCellhunters
  • Dr. Max PrizeMinority
  • AstraZeneca PrizeM*P*M
The 11 challenges
  1. 3D-printed matrix for pancreatic islet transplantation
  2. Blood sugar level — reading a glucose meter aloud for blind patients
  3. Predict patient behaviour — readmission prediction
  4. Treatment guide
  5. No more waiting!
  6. Five-star hospital
  7. Alzheimer / elderly patient family management
  8. Diseases of affluence including social media addiction
  9. Adherence and compliance
  10. Quality control for automated image analysis
  11. Ledger of Me — patient consent management

Smart Health Hackathon Prague 2018

Where it started: fifty IT and medical professionals, 48 hours in the lecture halls of the First Faculty of Medicine, inspired by MIT's Hacking Medicine. Participants worked with brain scans, glucometer data and a rehabilitation centre, and one challenge was simply a person: a war veteran who wanted to "hack" his service injury. The first prize was awarded by Prof. Štěpán Svačina, president of the Czech Medical Association of J. E. Purkyně.

Final ranking

  1. 1stSLANG
  2. 2nd
    Breath-Hackers & uLékaře.cz&Bluelink
  3. 3rdAutoHealth
  4. 4thStudent Dreamers
  5. 5th
    Red-Cute & Ximiliar

Prizes

  • CEE Hacks PrizeSLANG
  • ŠKODA AUTO DigiLabuLékaře.cz&Bluelink
  • Dr. MaxCyberHearts
  • uLékaře.czMEDAI
  • NUDZ PrizeHeartThrobs
  • Fail to Win PrizeA
The 12 challenges
  1. Health and automotive
  2. Big data & AI
  3. Smart hospital
  4. Diseases of affluence including social media addiction
  5. Abnormal Involuntary Movement Smartphone App (AIMSA)
  6. Adherence and compliance
  7. Smart rehabilitation
  8. Predictive health diagnostics
  9. Up-to-date fully fledged home medical kit
  10. Understanding brain functions and dysfunctions
  11. Red Cross mobile assistant centre vehicle
  12. Hack the Veteran
People

Judges, mentors and organisers

A selection of the clinicians and experts who gave the teams their time, with the roles they held at the time of the event.

IKEM

  • Marek ŠramkoHead of the Acute Cardiology Department
  • Robert BémHead of the outpatient department, Diabetology Clinic
  • Ondřej ViklickýHead of the Transplant Centre and Nephrology Clinic
  • Silvie Rajnochová-BloudíčkováHead of the Nephrology Outpatient Clinic
  • Vladimíra FejfarováLeader of the podiatric group, Diabetes Clinic
  • Sylva KlovrzováHead of the Department of Drug Preparation and Control
  • Petr RaškaChief Information Officer
  • Ivan VeselýHead of the IT Department
  • Ladislav SkulinaDeputy Director for Economics and Operations
  • Markéta ŠenkýřováHead of PR and Marketing

Industry & public sector

  • Martin ZubekInterSystems, director for the Czech Republic and Slovakia
  • Daniel Kutac, Regilo Souza, Ondřej Hoferek, Evgeny Shvarov, Thomas DyarInterSystems
  • Kuuno VaherAstraZeneca — keynote
  • Vladimír Janovský, Aleš Dohnal, Drahomír Kolenčík, Ivana Vávrová, Zuzana JedlinskáAstraZeneca
  • Ondřej Hlavička, Nathan Petersen, Jana Kurucová, Sonali DasEdwards Lifesciences
  • Michal OpatřilICZ
  • Jaromír BeránekPrague City Assembly, chair of the IT and Smart City Committee

Mentors & organisers

  • Tomáš StudeníkCEE Hacks / Insane Business Ideas — organiser
  • Jan Kubant, Tomáš KouřimMild Blue — co-founders
  • Tomáš ŠebekSurgeon, founder of uLékaře.cz
  • Tobiáš VybíralHTG Medical — co-founder
  • Pavol HejnýDeveloper, co-founder of H-edu and Collboard
  • Kateřina VackováLoono — founder (2018)
  • Jarmila ZipserováRehabilitation physician (2018)
Partners

Who stood behind it

Under the auspices of

  • Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic
  • City of Prague
  • Vysočina Region
  • Czech Medical Association of J. E. Purkyně
  • Ministry of Industry and Trade (2020)
  • Czech Chamber of Commerce (2018)

Host, industry and technology partners

  • IKEM
  • First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University
  • InterSystems
  • AstraZeneca
  • Edwards Lifesciences
  • VZP ČR
  • ICZ
  • Dr. Max
  • ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab
  • Sanofi
  • Penta Hospitals
  • MEDICON
  • Creative Dock
  • Applifting
  • Caelestinus
  • CzechInvest

Network and academic partners

  • prg.ai
  • Brno.AI
  • Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, CTU
  • AI Center, FEE CTU
  • FIM, University of Hradec Králové
  • Prague Innovation Institute
  • Loono
  • uLékaře.cz
  • National Institute of Mental Health
  • StartupJobs Newsroom
Press & coverage

What others wrote

Independent coverage from media, universities and partners.