Israel’s Pears foundation to hold bination hackathon

The Dollar Business Bureau

Pears Foundation of Israel is hosting a bination hackathon focusing on affordable healthcare across four cities – Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Tel Aviv (Israel). The 36-hour hackathon in Hyderabad will be conducted by India's largest incubator for startups T-Hub in association with its Israel counterpart.

The bination hackathon is the first outcome of T-Hub’s international partnership with StarTau, Israel. This hackathon will build bridges between the innovation ecosystems of Israel and India by providing a platform for entrepreneurs and industry experts from both the countries to work together to pioneer affordable healthcare solutions, T-Hub said in a statement.

Winners of the hackathon will receive a minimum cash prize of Rs.1 lakh for each sponsored challenge and a fully paid trip to Tel Aviv for other challenges. Four Indian entrepreneurs participating in the 45-day mentoring package will receive a one week, tailor-made acceleration programme in Tel-Aviv, Israel.

Israel’s innovation ecosystem players are supporting the innovators from the healthcare sector in their efforts to collaborate with the challenging Indian market. Medtronic, L V Prasad Eye Institute, IIT-Hyderabad, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Bitkemy Ventures and Venturesity are some of the partners of T-Hub in India.

A pre-hackathon was held at T-Hub on Monday, where interested entrepreneurs discussed with T-Hub CEO Jay Krishnan, L V Prasad Eye Institute Ophthalmologist Vipin Anthony, Pears Program Director of Strategic Initiatives Hilly Hirt, Bitkemy Ventures Senior Associate Utkarsh Sinha and others.

Jay Krishnan said that the intersection of big data, IoT and other technologies make the ecosystem fascinating today. Healthcare stands at the forefront of taking advantage of this. There is a pressing need to find solutions and innovators who can play a part in this intersection. T-Hub will play the role of the anchor in this hackathon, he said.

Israel, a hotbed for startups, has the technology and India has the market expertise. With the highest concentration of technology based startups, Israel has been the origin of many of the disruptive technologies such as computer firewalls, instant messaging, USB keys, voicemail and digital printing.

With this hackathon, Israeli corporate teams will explore adaptation of existing medical technologies to meet the needs of the affordable healthcare sector in India. This collaboration on affordable innovation would open immense opportunities for both the countries, Krishnan said.