Over 50 students from FIBRE partner institutions and beyond participated in the virtual event.
The inaugural FIBRE Wearable Tech Hackathon was hosted this past weekend, May 13-15, with great success! Over 50 students from FIBRE partner institutions and beyond participated in the virtual event, working together in multi-disciplinary teams and across different institutions to conceptualize textile-based solutions for preventing, monitoring, and treating pressure ulcers.
Student teams worked day and night for 35 hours straight, navigating differences in time zones, language, and areas of expertise. Over 30 mentors, judges, and presenters from academia and industry generously volunteered their time to join the event, share knowledge, and provide guidance and feedback to student teams as they developed their hacks, including two UHN Patient Partners with personal experience in pressure ulcers. Teams competed for cash prizes sponsored by KITE, and a mentorship prize sponsored by VARIANT3D to gain guidance on next steps to bring the winning design to market.
Attendees joined from India (Sona College of Arts and Science, Sona College of Technology, Thiagarajar Polytechnic College), Toronto (University of Toronto, Toronto Metropolitan University, Humber College, George Brown College, OCAD University, Seneca College, UHN), and the USA (Brown University), as well as industry representatives from IZ Adaptive, Vee Canada Inc., InnoVision Holdings Corp., and ZSK.
We are thrilled with the outcome of the event, and look forward to next year!