MIT Hackathon Tackles HIV, CHF, Parkinson’s With Open-Source Technology

Neil Versel | MobiHealthNews | February 13, 2013

It seems counterintuitive for those who proudly wear the “hacker” label to seek ways to work with established industry players rather than being disruptive in a healthcare sector badly in need of radical change, but that was what happened at Health and Wellness Innovation 2013, the recently concluded 11-day event better known as MIT Media Lab’s Health and Wellness Hackathon.

The hackathon brought engineering and medical faculty and students together with companies including Humana, Novartis and Pharmiweb Solutions to build commercially ready products using MIT Media Lab’s open-source CollaboRhythm platform and open standards.

“The hackathon itself is not enough to produce change, but it’s an opportunity to expose important players in the ecosystem—pharma, insurers, medical diagnostics companies, startup entrepreneurs, consumer electronics companies—to the value of using and contributing to these platforms,” organizer Dr. John Moore tells Fast Company. “It’s rare to get these players to converge, but these 80 people are influencers, and now they know each other so they can collaborate. Big innovations will come when they all see how they can benefit each other.”...