Trinity College Dublin has hosted Ireland’s first fully student-led MedTech hackathon, bringing together over 100 students from across the country to develop innovative solutions to pressing healthcare challenges. The Advance Health MedTech Idea Hackathon took place over two intensive development days on 27–28 February, followed by a Demo Day on 14 March, marking a significant milestone in student-led healthcare innovation in Ireland.
The event was led by Trinity students Patricia Sim and Eric Xin and attracted participants from a wide range of disciplines, including engineering, medicine, computer science, and related fields across multiple higher education institutions. The interdisciplinary nature of the hackathon played a central role in fostering collaboration between technical and clinical perspectives, enabling participants to approach healthcare challenges with both innovation and practical insight.
A key feature of the initiative was the strong partnership between Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin, alongside contributions from a number of student societies and academic groups. These included Trinity for Global Health, Equality in STEM, the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, and the UCD AI in Medicine Association. The collaborative environment encouraged knowledge-sharing and cross-disciplinary teamwork throughout the event.
Participants worked in teams to develop solutions addressing real-world medical and healthcare problems, culminating in a final pitching session evaluated by an expert judging panel. The panel included Professor Richard Reilly, Research Chair of Neural Engineering at Trinity College Dublin; Professor Aonghus Lawlor from UCD’s School of Computer Science; and PhD researchers James Bradshaw and Ilaria Facchi from Electronic and Electrical Engineering.
Three winning teams were announced following the final presentations. First place was awarded to POLYSAFE, which received €1,200. BrightSpeech secured second place with €750, while HealEdge took third place, receiving €600. Beyond the competition results, organisers noted that many teams intend to continue developing their projects beyond the hackathon, highlighting the event’s longer-term impact on student innovation and entrepreneurship.
The initiative received broad institutional and industry support, including backing from Trinity’s Schools of Engineering, Computer Science and Statistics, and Medicine, as well as the Trinity Entrepreneurial Society, UCD Women+ in STEM Society, the Association of Medical Students in Ireland, and multiple innovation and entrepreneurship partners such as Open Incubator and Entrepreneurship @ Portal.
The Advance Health hackathon has been recognised as a landmark event in Ireland’s student innovation ecosystem, demonstrating the growing role of interdisciplinary collaboration in shaping the future of healthcare technology.
