University of Debrecen Hosts EIT Health i-Days Hackathon

Debrecen, November 15, 2024 – For the first time, the University of Debrecen hosted the EIT Health i-Days for Life hackathon, a student innovation competition renowned across Europe. During the event, 120 young participants from around the globe presented their ideas to shape the future of healthcare. Accompanying the competition was a conference where representatives of successful med-tech start-ups shared insights into the challenges and opportunities on the path to success.

The i-Days initiative, supported by EIT Health, is a series of innovation programmes designed to encourage university students across Europe to develop solutions to real-world healthcare challenges presented by EIT Health, local organisations, private companies, or start-ups. During these competitions, students receive guidance from experienced mentors, hone their teamwork skills, and practice pitching innovative ideas to a panel of judges. The first-ever i-Days in Debrecen was held at the university’s Innovation Center, located in the heart of city’s emerging Science Park. The event brought together 120 students from various universities across Central Europe, forming 27 teams. These teams presented groundbreaking ideas in areas such as mental health, data-driven diagnostics, and wearable technologies, with many projects focusing on the healthcare applications of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI).

The i-Days concluded with a “home team” victory: the jury awarded the top prize to the HIT (Health-activist International Team), consisting of five students from the University of Debrecen and one visiting student from the University of Porto. The team, made up of students from Hungary, Morocco, Kenya, Brazil, and Bangladesh, is enrolled in various medical, business, and engineering programmes at the university. Although they all currently live and study in Debrecen, they met for the first time at the start of the competition. The team’s innovation, HITpod, is an automated, pain-free drug delivery system designed to ease hormone therapy for women undergoing in-vitro fertilisation. As winners of the i-Days, the team will participate in the Winners’ Event, the European student finals, to be held in Budapest on November 28–29, 2024.

Long-term Collaboration in Debrecen

„The students pitching in Debrecen demonstrated remarkable competence and brought forward innovative ideas that highlight the city’s potential as a significant hub for healthcare innovation,” said Maurizio Ferrari, Medical Director of SYNLAB Italia and chairman of the jury. “As part of the EIT Health network, I have seen numerous start-ups, and success often depends on the ability to subject ideas to external critique, align them with market needs, and build strategic partnerships. The EIT Health network provides invaluable access to a wide range of expertise, resources, and investors, creating a fertile environment for turning scientific ideas into market-ready solutions. Debrecen offers an outstanding ecosystem for this, combining academic excellence, strong industrial connections, and a supportive environment for emerging talents.”

Ferenc Pongrácz, Deputy Managing Director of EIT Health InnoStars, added: “The i-Days hackathons encourage young people not only to dream up but also to implement their innovative ideas in the field of healthcare. Supporting such initiatives is a priority for EIT Health InnoStars because talented students and researchers bring fresh perspectives into practice. The first step in the innovation process is having the courage to share their ideas with the world, and Debrecen has created an ecosystem that provides a platform for this. In this context, I hope this event marks just the first significant milestone in a long-term, productive collaboration between the University of Debrecen and EIT Health InnoStars.”

“We established the Innovation Ecosystem Center with the goal of identifying research and student ideas worth developing further. The innovation process begins with the courage to take ownership of and showcase our ideas, and this is precisely what the i-Days for Life Debrecen hackathon is about,” stated Zoltán Bács, Chancellor of the University of Debrecen.

Lilla Jutkusz, Director of the Innovation Center that organised and hosted the event, highlighted that the University of Debrecen, through its Innovation Ecosystem Center, runs numerous programmes designed to strengthen the innovative mindset of students and researchers and to support the development of their ideas. Additionally, the extensive network and support system provided by EIT Health and its EIT Health InnoStars initiative offer invaluable resources for innovators. “As the first step in our long-term collaboration, we organised the i-Days and the Start-Ups & Downs conference,” she noted. The event featured participation from experts at EIT Health InnoStars as well as leaders with exceptional professional experience from institutions across the network, including TU Delft, the University of Coimbra, the University of Łódź, the Utrecht Science Park, and several incubators, such as Portugal’s IPN. These participants served as mentors, speakers, and jury members.

The Pitfalls of Startups and the Importance of University Partnerships

At the accompanying event to the hackathon, the “Start-ups & Downs” conference, representatives of established businesses and experts shared insights into the challenges and lessons of startup life. Organised by the Hungarian health incubator White Unicorn, the conference provided valuable perspectives for aspiring innovators. Representatives from the Syreon Research Institute discussed the benefits of the early Health Technology Assessment (eHTA) methodology, which can provide a realistic evaluation of a new innovation’s potential market value even in its early stages. Meanwhile, experts from QTICS Medical offered practical advice for achieving successful compliance assessments for medical devices.

During the closing panel discussion of the conference, Lehel Ferenczi, Director of Data and Analytics at GE HealthCare, emphasised the importance of partnerships between universities and companies. “Such collaborations are the driving force of the innovation ecosystem, and the University of Debrecen is an exceptional partner in this regard. It not only provides world-class research infrastructure and expertise but also actively supports the development of practical applications. For GE HealthCare, it is especially valuable to collaborate on initiatives such as the clinical validation of our radiotherapy solutions or the development of AI-based oncology decision-support systems,” he explained.