The Innovation Studio at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) is launching the first-ever Gamifying Pediatrics Hackathon taking place April 12-14, 2019 at BCG Digital Ventures (BCGDV), the global corporate venture and incubation arm of the Boston Consulting Group. By bringing together physicians and nurses on the front lines of pediatric medicine with engineers, developers, and experts in virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and gaming, the Hackathon’s aim is to encourage development, incubation and implementation of new digital health tools and immersive experiences that will serve the needs of both patients and providers in the pediatric healthcare space.
Overview
Over the course of 48 hours, Hackathon participants will form teams, create rough prototypes and present their ideas to a panel of CHLA experts, who will select the winning teams on April 12. Winning teams will move forward to the Incubator phase to further develop the prototypes over the course of five months while receiving mentorship and access to $50,000 in seed grants which will be divided among the teams. A final pitch competition will be held in October 2019. The Hackathon is free to attend and open to anyone who shares this vision in utilizing digital technologies to address pediatric medicine.
“We believe in Gamifying Pediatrics because there is tremendous potential for the application of immersive digital technologies–VR, AR, gaming–to improve the quality of pediatric medicine on a number of levels,” says Omkar Kulkarni, Chief Innovation Officer of the CHLA Innovation Studio, whose recently formed Digital Health Lab is addressing three areas within pediatric healthcare: (1) enhancing therapeutic care for patients (with speech, behavioral and physical therapies); (2) improving clinical education and training for doctors, nurses and patient families; and (3) transforming the patient and family experience so that the clinical setting is more appealing and less frightening for young patients. “We are excited to hold the event at BCG Digital Ventures to provide participating teams with an exciting incubator environment to foster their creativity.”
The Hackathon will take place April 12-14, 2019 at BCGDV’s global headquarters at 1240 Rosecrans Avenue, Suite 500, in Manhattan Beach, CA. For schedule and more information, visit Gamifying Pediatrics Hackathon.
