Roche’s first healthcare hackathon produces promising patient education initiatives

A 3-day inaugural hackathon organized by the pharmaceutical division of Roche (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. among its employees has resulted in two potential educational initiatives for cancer patients in Malaysia. A hackathon usually lasts from 24 hours to a few days, so programmers work rapidly—often without sleep—to complete their task.

The Healthcare Hackathon with the theme of ‘Reimagine Healthcare,’ was co-organized by the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC) and involved employees from the Roche group in Malaysia, comprising the pharmaceutical, diagnostic and shared service centre. During the hackathon, employees were guided by a trainer, mentors and validators to generate ideas, which would create an impact on cancer patients as well as Malaysia’s healthcare system.

Out of the six competing teams, two teams were chosen as winners for their projects on early childhood cancer education and an application on breast cancer. The winning teams will be given due assistance, including sponsors and mentors, to develop their ideas into end products for consumers.

The early childhood cancer education project, named EduCan, is thought to be the first series of cartoons with a theme of cancer awareness which aims “to nurture an empathetic mindset towards cancer care” starting with children.

The application on breast cancer, called Dadaku, is “a unique one-stop digital platform with an aim to connect women to a personalized healthcare professional anywhere and anytime to empower women” so they can spot symptoms of breast cancer in the early stages and go for screening earlier.

“Hackathons have rapidly evolved and have become more flexible in recent years, and are now widely used in different industries,” said Lance Duan, the general manager of Roche Malaysia. “Thus, I am pleased to see hackathon evolving into the healthcare industry, as these proposed solutions may change the paradigm for patients and the healthcare ecosystem.”

“Through this hackathon journey, I believe the participants benefited from the insights and guidance from the diverse stakeholders, as not only were they from the healthcare community, but also from the digital and technology arena,” said Dzuleira Abu Bakar, chief executive officer of MaGIC, which brought in the mentors for the hackathon.

As a preparation for the hackathon, Roche staff joined two ‘ignition’ sessions where external speakers from various industries shared and discussed their innovation journey, and how it had transformed their organizations to deliver a bigger and better impact within their industries. On the first day of the hackathon, the six teams were given the task: How best to enable cancer patients to receive the best treatment for their specific condition. The teams had 2 days to ideate and propose prototype solutions, which they presented to the judges on day 3. The judges, including Lance and several healthcare professionals, looked for “ideas that demonstrated a true commitment to innovation and digital utilization that delivered real, measurable impact and a realistic adoption of their concept.”

“I was privileged enough to witness an innovative event organised by Roche Malaysia. I am always inspired by the passion and enthusiasm of individuals. It was an honour to see the embrace of new ideas and the commitment to sustainable and positive innovation in healthcare,” said Dr Benjamin Cheah, a consultant rheumatologist and one of the validators and judges.

Lance said, “… I was impressed with the six teams’ presentations, given the limited period to share innovative solutions for cancer patients. To me, all the ideas generated expressed a genuine desire to deliver meaningful change for Malaysian patients.”

He added, “I see the potential of hackathons, in promoting out-of-the-box approaches to creating realistic solutions, and I look forward to more creative, disruptive ways, like our Healthcare Hackathon as this promotes innovation and radical collaboration in our bid to do more for Malaysian patients.”