A Methodology for Reaping the Individual and Collective Benefits of a Health-themed Hackathon in Hungary

Abstract

A hackathon is a form of competition that requires intensive effort, where teams look for an innovative solution to a pre-defined problem in a limited timeframe. ”A Vaccination Campaign – How Would You Do It?” was a virtual hackathon organised on 10-11 December 2021 by the Hungarian Healthcare Management Association (HUHMA) and the Faculty of Health and Public Administration (EMK) of Semmelweis University (Budapest), with the support of the Committee on Sustainable Development of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the World Health Organisation and the Hungarian Ministry of Innovation and Technology. The hackathon was held in Hungarian. Seeing the plateauing vaccine uptake, its goal was to encourage new, innovative, multidisciplinary strategies to increase the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines in the population. 25 teams of nearly a hundred university students participated in the competition. Expert speakers and - at indicated times – mentors from relevant fields helped the teams in the framework of short consultations. The hackathon achieved its goals: Numerous ideas have been generated that could potentially contribute to an increase in the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines. Moreover, the event could mobilise students from different disciplines, thereby facilitating innovative thinking and multidisciplinary approaches to problem-solving in the field of health. Finally, considering that vaccines are crucial tools in the fight against infectious diseases (and thus, they are of great importance from a health security standpoint), the hackathon described here has shown that this methodology can be successfully applied to address health security risks. Therefore, hackathons may contribute to a resilient Hungarian healthcare system that is able to effectively respond to future challenges.