COVID-19 Response Hackathon Weekend 1 Recap: Social Isolation + Emotional Health Solution Wins 1st Place
This past weekend, March 12-14, 2021, NEMIC hosted our first virtual COVID-19 Innovation Response Hackathon. Devised to solve the challenges created by the COVID-19 Pandemic to best prepare Rhode Island and our country for the next pandemic or healthcare crisis. Participants were put into teams based on their interest in our 4 challenge areas:
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Impact on Education
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Social Isolation + Emotional Health
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Supporting At Risk Individuals
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When You Can't Work Remote
First Place - $1,000 Prize
First Prize went to team Limber Up who hacked to design a product and venture to combat social isolation and emotional health impacted by the pandemic. The team, comprised of two The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University Medical Students, Hyungjin Lee and John Slate-Romano, freelance product designer, Ashesh Gohil, and led by Design Lead, Allie Surdovel focused on creating a health and wellness product for elder orphans.
Second Place - $500 Prize
The second prize team, Info Center | Centro de Información hacked a technology that was a central information hub for marginalized communities to ease accessibility to information that is hard to get in the midst of a pandemic. The team was comprised of innovator and founder, Anthony Dutra, qualitative researcher, Rachel Kantrowitz, PhD Candidate, Emanuele Raggi, and Design Lead, Paul Osimo.
Participating Teams
In total, we had four teams compete and want to thank each and every participant. Thank you team 3, Joyful Gazelle, comprised of Brown University student, Whitney Terrill, and RISD student, Seva Simone. The team hacked a solution to solve the disconnect between students and professional mentors, job and degree opportunities, and professional networking created by the pandemic. Team 4, PivoTable, comprised of entrepreneur and CEO, Vaishnavi Mehta, Brown University student, Andrew Barton, and Designer, Karam Yoo focused their solution on supporting restaurants in the deeply impacted resturant industry manage staff, waste, and cash flow.
The COVID-19 Innovation Response Hackathon would not be possible without our partnership with the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training’s Back to Work Program.
Explore the Hackathon Weekend
Day 1 - Immersion
Teams were matched with designated design leads who lead the teams through a problem analysis, “How Might We…” statement brainstorm, evaluation criteria development, ideation sprints, concept development, concept refinement, and presentation design. We want to shout out a HUGE thank you to Marcel McVay, Rebecca Li, Allie Surdovel, and Paul Osimo for leading the teams throughout the entire Hackathon.
Teams utilized Miro, an online visual collaboration platform for teamwork, to organize, ideate, and create their products and ventures while working virtually with their teams.
Ayan Bhandari and Aidan Petrie, as Masters of Ceremonies, lead Introduction to the Innovation Process & Opportunity Selection presentations to get the groups thinking creatively before they worked with their teams to begin ideating into the evening.
Day 2 - Concept Generation
Day two was focused on giving teams as much time to collaborate as possible. In the morning Master of Ceremony, Ayan Bhandari lead teams through a Concept Generation & Visual Communication Presentation & Drawing Lesson. Teams then broke away into breakout rooms to complete Rapid Ideation Sprints lead by Design Leads. By the end of the day, teams down selected their idea and refined their product.
Business Advisors from leading Rhode Island Organizations joined us at the end of the day to advise the teams as they developed their products/services and prepared to pitch their ventures on Day 3. Thank you Lisa Carnevale from DesignxRI, Justin Sorotin from Octo PD, and Jeanette Numbers from Loft llc.
Day 3 - Refine + Pitch
Day three’s focus was on refinement of their product/service and pitch deck creation. The first presentation of the day was lead by Aidan Petrie who took the teams through a Pitch Deck Development Overview and Pitch Deck Template Discussion. Teams then utilized the full day to develop their pitch deck and practice their pitch for final judging in the evening.
By 5pm EST, teams were ready to pitch their innovations to our panel of judges that included, Karen Bulock, PhD of the BBII at Brown University, Megan Ranney, MD of the Brown-Lifespan Center for Digital Health, Lisa Carmel of Ximedica, G. Dean Roye, MD of Rhode Island Hospital, and Jeff McCloud of Thrive.
Teams were judged based on the following criteria:
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Energy & Presence
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Visual Presentation & Flow
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Novelty of the Idea
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Impact to the Problem
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Commercial Viability
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Overall Pitch
As noted above, first place went to the Limber Up team who hacked to solve the challenge of social isolation + emotional health. The second prize team, Info Center | Centro de Información hacked to create a solution for challenges faced by at risk individuals.
What did the Participants Say?
“The entire hackathon was well-structured and filled with really inspiring team leaders and mentors. Would definitely want to participate again!”
"Working with people outside my usual industry. Getting fast paced feedback. Working with local experienced individuals in the product / concept development field. Thank you!”
“My favorite part of the hackathon was working collaboratively with people who are out of my field!”
“Really cool new experience for someone who's never designed anything before. Also lots of help & support from multiple people. Overall fun, challenging, and encouraging experience.”
“Loved meeting and connecting with new people connected to RI!”
“Loved the creative touchpoint sessions! Getting the group drawing and the group activities were fun. Inspiring presentations from Ayan and Aidan. Being able to form a quick bond with a small group was great!”
“Themes were challenging but great and really forced you to think in a more simpler, holistic and clear way when describing a problem. All the themes were centered around the human aspect which is the side that was taken away from the pandemic. It is difficult to communicate emotions using a computer. Those past 3 days were inspiring and showed that despite all the difficulties we all are facing, we are doing the best that we can to preserve the human aspect. Virtually gathering with everyone was surely the best aspect and working with people of different backgrounds was fun and inspiring.”
Interested in Participating in this Hack?
Weekend 2 of the COVID-19 Response Innovation Hackathon is still open for registration!
Join us April 16-18th, 2021 for the second weekend of the COVID-19 Response Innovation Hackathon. Have an idea to solve a challenge due to the COVID-19 pandemic? We are now opening up our challenge categories so participants can work on the challenges that have directly impacted their lives.