The Mumbai leg of Med4Dev India-Israel Innovation in Affordable Healthcare, a Hackathon jointly hosted by Pears Program For Global Innovation, University of Tel Aviv and Prin. L.N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research (WeSchool) successfully concluded with the prize distribution ceremony conducted at WeSchool on Sunday.

The Hackathon , inaugurated on July 22 saw around 100 bright innovators coming together to get into action mode and intensely worked for about 36 hours to find solutions to some of the most pertinent health related issues faced by Indian diaspora. The first of its kind event, was held across four cities; Tel Aviv, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai in order to develop low cost, accessible innovative ideas and prototype solutions (hardware and software) to address healthcare challenges of low and lower-middle income communities in India.

Vishal Gondal, founder & CEO, GOQii Technologies Pvt Ltd was the guest of honor at the event at WeSchool in Mumbai. The finale saw the winning teams receiving awards from the hands of dignitaries like Nimrod Assouline - Deputy Chief of Mission,Consulate General of Israel in Mumbai amidst loud cheer by fellow Students and guests.

The cash prize of Rs. 1,00,000 for the best promising idea was won by a team from Mumbai consisting of  Dr.Varun Kommalapti and Rahul Bisht for designing a system for monitoring the patients adherence to treatment through Smart Code Remote Monitoring system (SCRMS) for IMS Health.The other top two teams that won from Mumbai included Ravinder Nain, Parag Sathye, Mihir Shahani and Shuhaid Lambe that designed a paperless tracking system of children's immunization using biometrics for Doctors For You. The young team of Subhed Chavan and Suraj Anchan received immense appreciation for their innovative website with a spiritual touch designed to crowd fund money for cancer treatments for Manipal hospitals.

The winning teams from all the four locations will be able to continue to develop their ventures with a package of several weeks of mentoring, the possibility of joining either the Pears Challenge accelerator in Israel or a parallel program in India, and opportunities for pitching their business ideas to venture capitalists.

While applauding the spirit of the participating innovators, Prof Dr Uday Salunkhe, group director, WeSchool said, “MED4DEV India-Israel Innovation in Affordable Healthcare is a great platform that facilitates a confluence of people from diverse functions like developers, designers, designers, social activists, healthcare specialists and MBA students working towards a common goal; to solve health related issues and build something innovative and meaningful. By bringing the confluence of science, technology and design through MED4DEV, WeSchool aims to create an ecosystem that strengthens the entrepreneurial spirit of our MBA students, creating new business products, that lead to new plans, new strategies, dreams and visions that will contribute strongly to the national agenda and transform the way healthcare impacts lives."

David Akov, Consul General, Consulate General of Israel In Mumbai joined Dr Salunkhe in congratulating the participants, “It is a new phase of collaboration between the young innovators and entrepreneurs in India and Israel. Tel Aviv University’s Pears Program and some of the best VC funds innovation hubs in both countries are involved, to ensure direct links to investment and industry. We hope that this will be the first of many Hackathons in different areas relevant to India and Israel, making good use of the unique skills in both countries and friendly ties between them.”

The Hackathon was  supported by a conglomerate of prestigious bodies like : Start-up Nation Centre (Tel Aviv),The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE, Mumbai) ,T-HuB (Hyderabad),10,000 start-ups (A NASSCOM Initiative, Hyderabad), Creators (Tel Aviv), Arambhan group and a number of others from the NGO, Healthcare and Corporate space.