The Virtual Medicine Conference is conducting the first online hackathon focused on the use of immersive technology in healthcare. This will be a 2-month+ online hackathon hosted on devpost. During this competition, you will have the chance to test out immersive ideas with people using XR technology to transform healthcare. 

The Virtual Medicine Conference is intended for a wide range of stakeholders seeking to learn about the implementation, outcomes, and cost-effectiveness of immersive virtual therapeutics in clinical practice and the role of VR and AR in medical education and simulation. Participants include clinicians using VR for patient care, patients exploring the benefits of VR as a complementary therapy, hospitals and clinics evaluating the health economics of starting a medical VR program, industry partners developing VR hardware and software solutions, journalists investigating the latest advances in medical VR, and investors seeking to learn the evidence and ROI for healthcare VR solutions.

 

In 2019, 430 registrants came from 12 countries and 5 continents. 

 

To learn more about the Virtual Medicine conference, please visit https://www.virtualmedicine.health.

Eligibility

  1. The Hackathon IS open to:
  • Individuals who are at least the age of majority where they reside as of the time of entry (“Eligible Individuals”).
  • Teams of no more than ten Eligible Individuals (“Teams”). 

(the above are collectively, “Makers”)

An Eligible Individual should not join more than one Team and an Eligible Individual can be part of a Team or enter as an individual. Teams should consist of at least two eligible individuals.  

If a Team is entering the Hackathon, they must appoint and authorize one individual (the “Representative”) to represent, act, and enter a Submission, on their behalf. The Representative must meet the eligibility requirements above. By entering a Submission on the Site on behalf of a Team you represent and warrant that you are the Representative authorized to act on behalf of your Team. 

PLEASE NOTE: It is your sole responsibility to review and understand your employer’s policies regarding your eligibility to participate in trade promotions, including this Hackathon. If you are participating in violation of your employer’s policies, you may be disqualified from entering or receiving prizes. Poster disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for disputes arising between an employee and their employer related to this matter, and prizes will only be awarded in compliance with the employer’s policies.

 

  1. The Hackathon IS NOT open to:
  • Individuals who are residents of a country, state, province or territory where the laws of the United States or local law prohibits participating or receiving a prize in the Hackathon (including, but not limited to, Brazil, Quebec, Cuba, Sudan, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Region of Crimea and any other country designated by the United States Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control) 
  • Organizations (including corporations, not-for-profit corporations and other nonprofit organizations, limited liability companies, partnerships, and other legal entities) that exist and have been organized or incorporated at the time of entry. 
  • Government entities, including sovereign states and all governmental entities as well as quasi-Governmental entities, including but not limited to Government corporations, state-owned or state-controlled enterprises, regional transportation authorities, or state owned universities or hospitals (“Government Entities”). For additional guidance, please consult the State Owned Entity Criteria. 
  • Employees of Government Entities (Microsoft is committed to complying with government gift and ethics rules and therefore government employees are not eligible) 
  • Organizations involved with the design, production, paid promotion, execution, or distribution of the Hackathon, including the Poster and Administrator (“Promotion Entities”) 
  • Employees, representatives and agents** of such organizations, and all members of their immediate family or household* 
  • Any other individual involved with the design, production, promotion, execution, or distribution of the Hackathon, and each member of their immediate family or household* 
  • Any Judge (defined below), or company or individual that employs a Judge 
  • Any parent company, subsidiary, or other affiliate*** of any organization described above 
  • Any other individual or organization whose participation in the Hackathon would create, in the sole discretion of the Poster and/or Administrator, a real or apparent conflict of interest 

 

*The members of an individual’s immediate family include the individual’s spouse, children and stepchildren, parents and stepparents, and siblings and stepsiblings. The members of an individual’s household include any other person that shares the same residence as the individual for at least three (3) months out of the year. 

 

**Agents include individuals or organizations that in creating a Submission to the Hackathon, are acting on behalf of, and at the direction of, a Promotion Entity through a contractual or similar relationship. 

***An affiliate is: (a) an organization that is under common control, sharing a common majority or controlling owner, or common management; or (b) an organization that has a substantial ownership in, or is substantially owned by the other organization. 

Requirements

Makers must do the following to participate in the Hackathon:

  • Register for the Hackathon on the Hackathon Website by clicking the “Register for this Hackathon” button. To complete registration, sign up to create a Devpost account, or log in with an existing Devpost account. There is no charge for creating a Devpost account. This will enable you to receive important updates and access the “Enter a Submission” page.
  • Must complete all of the required submission form questions, including the category the entry fits and whether or not it applies to the bonus prize track.
  • Must create a video that includes footage that clearly explains your app’s features and functionality through a comprehensive demonstration.
  • Provide a way to access the application for judging and testing by including a link to the code repository hosting the application’s code and any other deployment files and testing instructions.
  1. Language Requirements
  • All Submission materials must be in English or, if not in English, the Maker must provide an English translation of the demonstration video, text description, and testing instructions as well as all other materials submitted.
  1. Application Requirements
  2. What to Create: 

Build an extended reality (XR) application for use in one of the following healthcare categories:

  • Diagnostics/Therapeutics
  • Patient Education
  • Simulation (such as staff training or medial education)

Makers may use any platform that can generate extended reality content.

NOTE: To be eligible for the Northwestern Mutual prize, Makers must create a pediatric solution. See Section 7 for further details on Prizes.

At any time, and at its sole discretion, the Poster will have the ability to re-assign a submitted submission from one category to another or to disqualify a submission for not sufficiently fitting the main requirement. 

iii. Functionality: The App must be functioning on the platform for which it is intended and submitted for relevant testing prior to the end of the Submission Period.

  1. New Applications: Apps must be newly created by the Maker after the start of the Submission Period. 
  2. Testing: The maker must make the App available free of charge and without any restriction, for testing, evaluation and use by the Poster and Judges during the Hackathon until the winners have been announced. 

Makers must provide a way to access for judging and testing, including a link to a publicly visible code repository hosting the application’s code, and any other deployment files and instructions needed. 

  1. Multiple Submissions: A Maker will be allowed one submission per team. 

vii. SDKs, APIs, & Data: Applications may integrate SDKs, APIs and data, provided the Maker has the rights to use them. All participants should be able to use them. Trial versions are OK. If a team decides to use a proprietary SDK, API or Data, they should inform the hackathon organizers and make available the proprietary components to at least two other teams. Organizers will announce this on what every communications channel is chosen to communicate with the hackathon community.

viii. Intellectual Property: Your Submission must: (a) be your (or your Team, or Organization’s) original work product; It should all be built during the hackathon period. (b) be solely owned by you, your Team, or your Organization with no other person or entity having any right or interest in it; (c) not violate the intellectual property rights or other rights including but not limited to copyright, trademark, patent, contract, and/or privacy rights, of any other person or entity; and (d) comply with the Developer Agreement and all terms, rules and policies that Poster or its affiliates make available regarding submission of Applications. A Maker may contract with a third party for technical assistance to create the Submission provided the Submission components are solely the Maker’s work product and the result of the Maker’s ideas and creativity, and the Maker owns all rights to them. A Maker may submit a Submission that includes the use of open source software or hardware, provided the Maker complies with applicable open source licenses and, as part of the Submission, creates software that enhances and builds upon the features and functionality included in the underlying open source product. By entering the Hackathon you represent, warrant, and agree that your Submission meets these requirements.

  1. Financial or Preferential Support: Application must not have been developed, or derived from an application developed, with financial or preferential support from the Poster. Such applications include, but are not limited to, those that received funding or investment for their development, were developed under contract, or received a commercial license, from the Poster any time prior to the end of the Submission Period. This includes applications that have been funded or co-developed by the Poster, including Applications that earn money through licensing. The Poster, at their sole discretion, may disqualify a Submission, if awarding a prize to the Submission or Maker would create a real or apparent conflict of interest.
  2. Applications Provided Free of Charge: Apps must be provided free of charge until the winners of the Hackathon have been announced.

 

  1. Text Description, Image, and Video Requirements
  2. Text Description: The text description should explain the features and functionality of your App.
  3. Images: Images or screenshots are optional.

iii. Video: The video portion of the Submission:

  1. should be less than five (5) minutes;
  2. must include footage that clearly explains the App’s features and functionality through a comprehensive demonstration;
  3. must be uploaded to YouTube, Facebook Video, Vimeo, or Youku and be made public, and a link to the video must be provided on the submission form on the Hackathon Website; and
  4. must not include third party trademarks, or copyrighted music or other material unless the Maker has permission to use such material;
  5. must not infringe on any third party’s intellectual property, including featuring names and images of people without their permission.

 

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$4,500 in prizes

AppliedVR vMed Hackathon Prize

AppliedVR will offer a $1,000 Unity store voucher to purchase project assets and all team members of a selected team the opportunity to apply for an internship with one of the fastest growing VR therapy startups in the industry. Acceptance of this prize is subject to an initial interview and potential ability to travel.
Requirements: submission must be built using Unity 2018.2+ targeting Android, use Pico SDK 2.7.9+, use Breath Detection Algorithm provided by AppliedVR to drive interactivity and solve a problem.

Boston Children's Hospital Simulator Program

The Boston Children’s Hospital Simulator Program will offer a pediatric entry a chance to further develop and pilot their winning application at the #1 children’s hospital in the nation. Acceptance of this prize is subject to an initial online interview and viability of the application in the pediatric and academic setting.

Chariot Kids

The Chariot Program will offer a pediatric entry a chance to further develop and pilot their winning application with the world’s largest pediatric VR program. Acceptance of this prize is subject to an initial interview and viability of the application.

Northwestern Mutual Pediatric Oncology Prize

Northwestern Mutual will select the best pediatric oncology entry and award $2,500 USD to the team.
Prize will only be awarded to eligible entries from the United States.

XRHealth

XRHealth will offer a selected entry the chance to collaborate on a new program based on their winning entry on a platform already in use at hospitals in the western hemisphere. Acceptance of this prize is subject to an initial interview and viability of the application.

Preferred: Unity based app and Oculus Quest compatibility

Virtual Medicine co-sponsored by Pistoia Alliance

The $1000 Virtual Medicine Award is proudly being co-sponsored by Pistoia Alliance. The Pistoia Alliance drives collaboration and empowers organizations to work together for success. In a complex and dynamic environment of science, technology, and medicine, the Pistoia Alliance lowers barriers to R&D innovation, enabling the development and incubation of integrated healthcare solutions.

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

Kate Donovan

Kate Donovan
Boston Children's Hospital

Stephen Wilson

Stephen Wilson
Boston Children's Hospital

Josh Sackman

Josh Sackman
AppliedVR

Aaron Robin

Aaron Robin
AppliedVR

Jon Graves

Jon Graves
AppliedVR

David Proudlock

David Proudlock
Pistoia Alliance

Judy Berdan

Judy Berdan
Northwestern Mutual

Joe Corrao

Joe Corrao
Northwestern Mutual

Sagie Grunhaus
XR Health

Samuel Rodriguez

Samuel Rodriguez
Stanford Children's Health

Luke Wilson

Luke Wilson
Mighty Immersion

Osman Bhatti

Osman Bhatti
NHS

Sophia Batchelor

Sophia Batchelor
Neurosity

Serban Suvagau

Serban Suvagau
Bupa

Martin Rabaglia

Martin Rabaglia
Genosha

Hat Nguyen

Hat Nguyen

Jeff Bail

Jeff Bail
Vicarious Surgical

Chris Corobana

Chris Corobana

Sam Muscroft

Sam Muscroft
Touch Surgery

Deepti Sood

Deepti Sood
Deloitte

Swaroop Oggu

Swaroop Oggu
Halcyon Solutions

Carol DerSarkissian

Carol DerSarkissian
NYU School of Medicine

Leila Barmaki

Leila Barmaki
University of Delaware

Tobias Loetscher

Tobias Loetscher
University of South Australia

Judging Criteria

  • Clinical Utility
    How useful the program could be for a clinical setting. How feasible that it could be used in a fast pace clinical workflow. How acceptable the program will be for the end user. Are there any concerns about the programs tolerability for the end user.
  • Creativity, Design, Artwork, Storytelling
    How novel is the approach used to address the users need. How intuitive is the use of the project from installation through experience.
  • Performance of Code, Technical Merit
    The originality of your work. The complexity of the problem solved. The design quality of the code. The smooth operation from installation through the use of the project.
  • Innovation
  • User experience
  • Judge Discretion

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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