On Monday May 15th the team Movin(g) Reality was announced as the winners of the Dutch Hacking Health competition. Professionals, researchers, patients and many other people participated in many hackathons organized all over the Netherlands late April to design healthcare innovations. The intention of hackathons is to bring people together in order to generate ideas and concepts which otherwise would never see daylight. In association with the VR4REHAB Interreg North-West Europe project, the Sint Maartenskliniek organized a hackathon. The winner of this hackathon was team Movin(g) Reality with a concept for an augmented reality game for rehabilitation of walking disorders. Winners of all separate hackathons participated in the Dutch Hacking Health competition to to become the general Dutch winner. The Movin(g) Reality concept eventually proved to be the winning concept for healthcare innovation.
The team Movin(g) Reality wins the Dutch Hackathon
The winning team, left to right: Cheriel Hofstad (Research – Sint Maartenskliniek), Theo Theunissen (Highschool Arnhem Nijmegen), Noël Keijzers (Research – Sint Maartenskliniek) and David van Drommelen (Highschool Arnhem Nijmegen). Not shown: René van Ee (Rehabilitation Physician, Sint Maartenskliniek) and Bart van Oosteren (Nurse Specialist, Sint Maartenskliniek).
In total 14 teams, all winners of the local hackathons in the weekend of April 20 – 24, gathered on May 14th in the University Medical Centre Utrecht to present their idea’s and concepts for healthcare innovation to the grand jury. Members of the grand jury were Tineke Markus, director Dutch Crohn and Colitis Ulcerosa Society, Nick Guldemond, associated professor Integrated Care & Technology at the Institute of Health Policy & Management of the Erasmus University Rotterdam and Gelle Klein Ikkink, program director Innovation & Healthcare Improvement of the Ministry of Health. This jury selected Movin(g) Reality, winner of the VR4REHAB hackathon, as the general winner with their solution for rehabilitation of walking disorders. They jury decided that this concept is a great solution for a large target group, while the solution can be realized in the short term.
The Movin(g) Reality team was overwhelmed and extremely happy by the fact that they were elected as the winners by the grand jury. The first price is the realization of the concept with the free full support of Deloitte Consultancy and the Ministry of Health. Together with the team these will now search for partners which will enable them to turn the concept into a workable prototype.
For the VR4REHAB project the election of Movin(g) Reality is a tremendous success. VR4REHAB is an international cooperation between many partners under the guidance of the Sint Maartenskliniek, funded by the Interreg North-West Europe program. Under this program universities, rehabilitation clinics and game designers will develop and research VR applications to improve rehabilitation and accelerate the recovery process. The VR4REHAB hackathon, part of the Dutch Hacking Health weekend is very proud and honored that their winner also was elected as the overall Dutch winner with the best idea to improve healthcare.