Chapter 8
Health Hackathons Drive Affordable
Medical Technology Innovation Through
Community Engagement
Aikaterini Mantzavinou, Bryan J. Ranger, Smitha Gudapakkam,
Katharine G. Broach Hutchins, Elizabeth Bailey and Kristian R. Olson
8.1 Introduction
Successful medical innovation requires a process of co-creation among key healthcare stakeholders including healthcare professionals, end users, scientists, engineers,
and entrepreneurs (IDEO 2015; Lee et al. 2012; Prahalad and Ramaswamy 2004).
This can be challenging especially in resource-limited settings where interdisciplinary collaboration may be hampered by more pronounced professional, socioeconomic, and age barriers (Sachs 2003).
MIT Hacking Medicine, a group founded in 2011 at MIT, aims to energize the
healthcare community and accelerate medical innovation by carrying out co-creation
through health hackathons. These 1- to 3-day events bring together diverse stakeholders to solve pressing healthcare needs. The group has organized to date more
than 40 health hackathons across 9 countries and 5 continents.
Aikaterini Mantzavinou and Bryan J. Ranger are co-first authors.
A. Mantzavinou (B) · B. J. Ranger (B)
Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
e-mail: amantzav@mit.edu
B. J. Ranger
e-mail: branger@mit.edu
S. Gudapakkam · K. G. Broach Hutchins · E. Bailey · K. R. Olson
Consortium for Affordable Medical Technologies, Boston, MA, USA
e-mail: sgudapakkam1@babson.edu
K. G. Broach Hutchins
e-mail: kghutchins@partners.org
E. Bailey
e-mail: baileyelizabetha@gmail.com
K. R. Olson
e-mail: krolson@mgh.harvard.edu
© The Author(s) 2018
S. Hostettler et al. (eds.), Technologies for Development,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91068-0_8
87
Health Hackathons Drive Affordable
Medical Technology Innovation Through
Community Engagement
Aikaterini Mantzavinou, Bryan J. Ranger, Smitha Gudapakkam,
Katharine G. Broach Hutchins, Elizabeth Bailey and Kristian R. Olson
8.1 Introduction
Successful medical innovation requires a process of co-creation among key healthcare stakeholders including healthcare professionals, end users, scientists, engineers,
and entrepreneurs (IDEO 2015; Lee et al. 2012; Prahalad and Ramaswamy 2004).
This can be challenging especially in resource-limited settings where interdisciplinary collaboration may be hampered by more pronounced professional, socioeconomic, and age barriers (Sachs 2003).
MIT Hacking Medicine, a group founded in 2011 at MIT, aims to energize the
healthcare community and accelerate medical innovation by carrying out co-creation
through health hackathons. These 1- to 3-day events bring together diverse stakeholders to solve pressing healthcare needs. The group has organized to date more
than 40 health hackathons across 9 countries and 5 continents.
Aikaterini Mantzavinou and Bryan J. Ranger are co-first authors.
A. Mantzavinou (B) · B. J. Ranger (B)
Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
e-mail: amantzav@mit.edu
B. J. Ranger
e-mail: branger@mit.edu
S. Gudapakkam · K. G. Broach Hutchins · E. Bailey · K. R. Olson
Consortium for Affordable Medical Technologies, Boston, MA, USA
e-mail: sgudapakkam1@babson.edu
K. G. Broach Hutchins
e-mail: kghutchins@partners.org
E. Bailey
e-mail: baileyelizabetha@gmail.com
K. R. Olson
e-mail: krolson@mgh.harvard.edu
© The Author(s) 2018
S. Hostettler et al. (eds.), Technologies for Development,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91068-0_8
87