Health Hack Belfast Promises Million Pound Opportunities for Innovation

Healthcare professionals are gearing up to meet their technological matches and to make their ideas a reality at Health Hack Belfast which takes place on 22 and 23 February.

The event will bring healthcare professionals and innovative developers and designers together to collaborate on Medicines Management solutions that will empower patients to manage their medication in the digital age. The focus on medicines management reflects emerging evidence that between a half and a third of medicines prescribed for long term conditions are not taken as recommended.

Health Hack NI is the third in a series of successful Health Hack Days which have been hosted in Belfast and Dublin. The event is being led by Kainos with support from Belfast City Council, the Northern Ireland Science Park, EMC and the Connected Health Innovation Centre (CHIC).

The event is being aligned with a new Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition which will be launched in March by the Technology Strategy Board in partnership with the DHSSPS/DETI.

Councillor Deirdre Hargey, Chair of Belfast City Council's Development Committee, said: 'The digital economy is very much a growth one, not least as far as Belfast is concerned, and has the potential to bring more and more high-value jobs to the city. Events such as Health Hack which gives the opportunity for local SMEs to win new business and access new sources of funding to allow them to grow further. This is a particularly important area for the council, as we move towards making ourselves a Super-Connected City in the not too distant future and continue to place technology at the heart of many projects we're progressing as part of our Investment Programme for the city, like an innovation centre for emerging businesses and a digital hub for the creative industries.'

Connected Health Innovation Centre manager, Stephen McComb says 'an idea which is developed at the Health Hack could become the basis for a winning solution in the SBRI competition which will launch in March. This could attract in the region of £1 million of funding within the SBRI competition.'

Tom Gray, CTO at digital technology solutions company Kainos, said, 'This is an exciting opportunity for enthusiastic and motivated healthcare and technology professionals to bring important and inspirational new ideas to life ideas for often quite simple solutions but which have the potential to make a profound and tangible difference to patients' lives. Previous health hacks have produced some powerful innovations, so we look forward to seeing the results of this latest meeting of creative minds. Kainos is a firm believer in stimulating and nurturing new talent and innovation, and we welcome this latest opportunity to support new generations of healthcare developers and solutions.'

Teams will have 26 hours to deliver on their projects and it promises to be a powerhouse of innovation with brilliant results. Prizes will be awarded in a number of categories ranging from Quality of Care to Productivity in Health, to Potential to Make a Billion. Ideas from the competition could then be considered for the SBRI competition launch in March.