Wearable health solution for UV protection created by Budapest students

Press release – On February 22, students from five Budapest universities presented their digital prototypes at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME University) at the final pitch presentations of SHack Budapest – the social hackathon. After only forty-eight hours of intense brainstorming and programming the student teams had to come up with results.

In his opening remarks Rector Professor József Fülöp of MOME University elaborated on why this social hackathon was conducted: “This University has always had the purpose to design products that help people. The challenges have changed, but we still serve the same purpose to design products that impact the lives of the users!” The event was organized by EYA – the European community for digital social impact – in the framework of a yearlong programme of events and contests.

During the forty-eight hours marathon event, twenty-five renowned international experts supported six multi-disciplinary teams to tackle challenges in the field of health with digital technology.

An international jury of experts voted on the project “Sunner” to be the Social Hackathons winning project. “Sunner” replaces single-use UV-measuring bracelets with a connected sensor children can wear all day of the summer and by the time UV radiation reaches critical limits, the parents get notified on their smartphone app.

“The one thing that decided this competition is simplicity, and feasibility. They use technology that is already out there, recombine it and with a look at the market realized that this product is missing”,

Tamas Fogarasy, Interaction Design Lab Leader at MOME University, explained the jury decision and added “this product will be out there in six months or one year latest, right now it is clearly missing on the market and you have to act now!”

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Tamás Békási, RIS Business Creation Project Manager at EIT Health, explains is participation as Speaker and Jury Member:

„Programs like SHack Budapest, organized by EYA, give a life alternative for young people, by helping them to discover their inner innovator, connecting to other enthusiasts with similar mindset – but different skills and background – boosting their knowledge with professional mentors, and at the end of the day, launching some new teams in the European startup scene.”

SHack Budapest was organized by EYA in cooperation with MOME, Budapest University of Technology, Semmelweis University, Corvinus University and the Faculty of Social Sciences at ELTE.

The social hackathon is kindly supported by EIT Health, GE Healthcare and INPUT program.