The Innovation Institute and MIT Hacking Medicine Hacking Pediatrics 2020 3-Day Event Results in Top Three Ideas

Newport Beach, Calif. – Today, Innovation Lab, a subsidiary of The Innovation Institute, announced the top three ideas that resulted from their first Hackathon, a collaborative endeavor focused on transforming pediatrics held at their Orange County incubator facility February 7-9, 2020.

Hacking Pediatrics 2020 participants included researchers, coders, data scientists, software engineers, nurses, physicians, entrepreneurs and business leaders from across the U.S. The wide range of organizations represented as participants, mentors, and judges include CHOC Children’s, Valley Children’s Healthcare, Franciscan Missionaries or Our Lady Health System, Bon Secours Mercy Health, Medtronic, UCI, Aurora Healthcare, Los Angeles Venture Association, LRVHealth, Sidebench, and AppliedVR. Students from UCI, UCLA, and other local universities also participated.

The Lab worked in partnership with MIT Hacking Medicine on behalf of The Innovation Institute’s seven Member Owner health systems. The Hacking Pediatrics 2020 event provided a weekend of collaboration for a diverse group of people united around their desire to improve healthcare for kids.

According Innovation Lab National Director Suzy Engwall, participants were able to present problems, create teams to solve the problems, design prototypes and pitch solutions to a panel of esteemed judges. Solutions from the winning teams will move forward into Innovation’s Lab’s incubation process.

Awards were presented for the top three ideas as follows:

First Prize $1,000 was for SurgiPals, whose team included UCLA students and a medical device expert;

Second Prize $750 was for Autism Collaboration Team to help with care of autistic patients who are hospitalized. Team members came from CHOC Children’s, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, IEHP and Midmark;

Third Prize $500 was for 6-Minute Abs. The product is not really for abs but the team liked the catchy name. It is designed to assist the pediatric patient with blood flow. Team members included a CHOC Children’s physician and an engineer.

Judging criteria was based on:

1. Innovative – Does it reflect a creative & innovative approach?
2. Solves a Problem – Does it represent a viable solution to a real problem?
3. Easy to Use – Does it provide a solution with an idea for an intuitive user interface & experience?
4. Intuitive – Does it provide an easily understood value?
5. Functional – Can it functionally demo and does it have the potential to scale?
6. Technological – Does it leverage technology in a unique way?

About Innovation Lab

Innovation Lab is a subsidiary of The Innovation Institute, an independent, for-profit limited liability corporation structured to cultivate innovative solutions to transform health care delivery. Its three distinct elements include Innovation Lab, which taps into physicians, employees, and industry business partners to incubate and commercialize new medical products and ideas; an investment fund; and a shared services group (Enterprise Development Group). The Institute is owned by non-profit health systems who together strive to “do more, with less, for more people.”