The South Africa hackathon location was at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and dubbed the UCT Hub. It attracted over 80 applicants from diverse fields, including medicine, engineering, research, and software development. Eleven teams were selected to participate, presenting ideas ranging from AI-powered triage tools to a scar-fixing app. The interdisciplinary collaboration reflects the hackathon’s emphasis on cross-disciplinary thinking to develop innovative solutions.
Speaking on behalf of the judging panel, Assoc. Prof. Lionel Green-Thompson, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at UCT, commended the participants:
“I was incredibly impressed by the quality of work presented. Many of the solutions focused on easing the burden on individuals, which reflects how our health system has become overly individualized. What stood out was the need to think beyond the interpersonal and address systemic challenges.”