Sporting a new name, the Innovation Hackathon, George Hacks hosted another successful hackathon on March 1 and 2. This year, the event more than doubled in size, attracting over 150 students from 13 universities across the country, compared to just 62 students from four universities last year. The impressive turnout included a mix of undergraduates, graduate students, Ph.D. candidates, MBA students, and medical students, highlighting the broader scope of challenges and opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration.
This annual event, historically called the Medical Solutions Hackathon, is in its 8th year. Driven by their mission to catalyze innovation for social impact across GW and beyond, George Hacks’ student leaders chose to switch the name to increase participation from other disciplines and expand the hackathon’s scope to focus on the United Nations’s Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) in the problem statements.
“The broad scope of the UNSDGs was helpful as it allowed us to expand the types of problem statements we could present to participants. It also presented George Hacks with a unique opportunity to educate students about the cross sections of topics such as education and equality, energy and infrastructure, and the environment and health, which are the core focus of our organization,” said Samuel Evans, a sophomore majoring in economics and George Hacks’ Co-finance Chair.
With these new problem statements in mind, the event introduced several new tracks, each designed to encourage creative solutions that align with specific UNSDGs. Track 1 focused on health, education, and equality, track 2 on health, energy, and infrastructure, and track 3 on health and the environment. A fourth “create your own” track challenged teams to develop a problem statement to address.
Leading up to the hackathon, George Hacks organized activities designed to help participants connect and start brainstorming. These included an informal networking mixer and a workshop discussing engineers’ vital roles in healthcare innovation. Online, an official George Hacks Discord server proved particularly effective, allowing participants to engage with mentors and experts long before the hackathon officially kicked off.
When the teams reunited for the hackathon, excitement filled the Science & Engineering Hall as students presented their solutions in a demo round and pitch round. The winning teams for each track were INIT2WINIt for the Create Track, BYTANS for Track 1, Digital Medics for Track 2, and Rootsync for Track 3.
The addition of partners allowed George Hacks to offer a larger prize pool to compete for, such as spot prizes offered by dCommunity, GW’s Open Source Program Office (OSPO), and GW’s Global Food Institute (GFI) related to their missions. For instance, dCommunity’s spot prize encouraged students to incorporate cutting-edge technology into their solutions, which led to the GW Scholars team’s victory. GW Scholars also won the OSPO spot prize, while the teams INTIT2WINIT and Food Approach tied for the spot prize for GFI.
Additional partners at this year’s hackathon included GW’s Office of Graduate Admissions, Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Alliance for a Sustainable Future, School of Engineering & Applied Science, GW Coders, GW Esports, the GW Investment Institute, and the GW Innovation Center. The 16 judges, who also served as mentors to the student teams, covered a wide range of professions, from software developers and economists to sustainability professionals and consultants.
“These mentors, who graciously donated their time and expertise to participants, enabled them to elevate their projects to the next level,” Evans stated.
The new and improved Innovation Hackathon once again demonstrated the power of collaboration, creativity, and interdisciplinary innovation. By bringing in more participants from across GW and the U.S., George Hacks expanded its reach and left participants inspired to continue pursuing innovation for the greater good. To stay connected and test your design skills at next year’s hackathon, visit George Hacks on Instagram and sign up for their newsletter!