The UVic-UCC will host the Vic i-Days 2024 under the motto “Respirathon: innovating for better breathing”

The third edition of the Vic i-Days or innovation days will be held in this upcoming 7 and 8 November at the UVic-UCC Faculty of Medicine. This hackathon or European innovation championship in the field of health will be dedicated to the development of solutions applied to people suffering from respiratory diseases or, in general, to being able to breathe better.

The competition is aimed at undergraduate or master’s students in any discipline (health, engineering, social sciences, etc.) and does not require any previous knowledge to participate. The organisers will propose a challenge in the field of health and well-being to the participants who, registered in teams, will have to identify a problem linked to the challenge and develop an innovative solution that meets this need.

Promoted by the European network EIT Health, the Vic i-Days are hosted by a consortium made up of the UVic-UCC, the North Metropolitan Region of the Catalan Health Institute, the TIC Salut Social Foundation, Eurecat and the company Qualud. Registrations to participate in the Vic i-Days are free and can be completed at this link.

The competition

The hackathon is held over two consecutive working days. During the first day, the challenge will be presented and contextualised by invited experts. Afterwards, an innovation workshop will be offered that will present the teams with useful tools to develop their solutions to the challenge. By late morning, the team of mentors and experts from the professional field will be presented and during the afternoon they will be available to all the teams to guide them in the development of their idea. The organisation will provide breakfast and lunch for the participants, thus promoting areas for networking.

During the second day, the competition itself will take place, where each team will have five minutes to present their idea. After the presentations, a jury will assess the different proposals and decide the winners, who will be announced at the end of the day.

Teams opting for a prize

There will be a €500 cash prize for first place among all the participating teams, plus free credits for training Amazon Web Services will be awarded, valued at $2000. There will also be a €200 second prize worth and a €100 third prize, both in cash.

In addition, the winning team will be able to participate in the European final of the i-Days at theEIT Health Career Path, which will be held in Budapest on 28 and 29 November. In this case, up to four members of the winning team will receive a €400 pass of per person intended to cover travel expenses to Budapest, a city where the overall winner will be chosen from the i-Days 2024 finalists from a total of 25 different European cities.

A European championship

The i-Days are a European innovation championship in the field of health promoted by EIT Health, a European network of health and innovation bodies that work in different initiatives under the principle of the “knowledge triangle”, one formed by research entities, industry and education, united to find innovative solutions to the current challenges of our society.