Bringing together nearly 100 of the brightest minds, Westmead Health Precinct co-hosted the annual Harvard Health Systems Innovation Lab Hackathon alongside the University of Sydney, in a quest to solve some of the complex challenges in our health system.
Westmead provided the only hub in Australia to host, joining 19 countries who facilitated more than 1500 participants.
Clinicians, engineers, computer scientists, economists, political scientists and other professionals were involved, with experience ranging from students to early-mid career professionals.
This is the first time the Westmead Health Precinct was involved, joining the rich six-year history of the Harvard Hackathon.
Westmead Health Precinct’s Dr Nathan Moore summed up its success.
“It was amazing to bring together so many people, it really shows the power of working together and how technology will benefit the people that need it most, the patients,” Nathan said.
The event was opened by Professor Peter Hockey, Executive Director Quality and Safety for Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD) and the University of Sydney’s Professor Annemarie Hennessy.
Together they emphasised the importance of collaboration within healthcare and beyond, and the challenges faced by an emerging workforce.
In teams, the participants worked to create innovative solutions, addressing this year’s theme, ‘Building High-Value Health Systems: Leveraging Artificial Intelligence’.
They were supported by several hackathon mentors, including people from WSLHD, University of Sydney, Cicada Innovations, CSIRO, and more.
Late on the second day, the teams pitched their ideas to an esteemed panel of judges, featuring Prof Hockey (WSLHD), Dr Kim Sutherland (Executive Director, Office for Health and Medical Research), Geoff Waring (Head of Research Venture Investment, University of Sydney), and Lilly Bojarski (General Manager, Cicada Innovations Health Tech Hub).
SunnyNB won first place for developing a solution using wearable technology that monitors the physical health of marine crew members. Their concept integrates an AI-powered chatbot to generate personalised daily health reports and automatically alert medical professionals when high-risk symptoms are detected – a solution to support the health and wellbeing of remote workforces.
Second place went to I Know You Know who focused on empowering international students to access and understand their comprehensive medical history. Their proposed AI feature summarises medical histories in a user-friendly way, enabling better self-awareness and improving communication with healthcare providers – especially across language barriers.
2025 Vision Diagnostics came in third for their innovative HMD-VR (Head-Mounted Display Virtual Reality) application aimed at providing immersive diagnostic and therapeutic experiences. Their portable VR system utilises eye-tracking technology to assess binocular vision, including ocular alignment, depth perception, and visual impairments – a tool to enhance vision care.
The three winning teams now progress to the international Harvard online bootcamp where they’ll have the opportunity to pitch to the global Harvard Health Systems Innovations Lab team.
About
WSLHD is a partner of the Westmead Health Precinct. The Westmead Health Precinct is one of the largest health, innovation, research, education, and training hubs in Australia. At the heart of the Precinct are amazing people. Researchers, innovators, educators, clinicians, healthcare workers, professionals, students, and more. All committed to delivering exceptional health outcomes for patients at Westmead – and across the world.