SwedenBIO is a partner to the Sahlgrenska Global Health Hackathon, held throughout 2025 in six countries on three continents and nine locations with the slogan “Co-action Addressing Global Health Challenges”. The world tour will take the innovation marathon to Gothenburg, Malmö and Stockholm, Boston and Miami, London, Göttingen (Germany), Barcelona and Singapore before returning to Gothenburg in October 2025, where the grand final will be held at Nordic Life Science Days and where the finalists from each location will compete to win.
How does the hackathon work?
This solution-generating marathon invites innovative teams to work on challenges in five key areas of global health over five weeks and then share their proposals in person on the weekend of February 22 and 23.
The process includes the following steps:
- Sign up: to get started, you need to sign up on the platform by filling in the registration form.
- Explore the challenges: after signing up you can learn more about the five main challenges of the hackathon, which focus on health equality, treating cancer, healthy ageing, preventing infections and sustainable healthcare.
- Join a team: you can sign up on your own and then find a team, create and lead one, or join a team led by another participant. Then you can start working on the initial idea to tackle one of the challenges. The deadline for preparing your proposal online and submitting it through the platform is February 8.
- Develop your solution: the weekend of the hackathon, which will be an intensive in person event, you will work with your team and get support from mentors to develop your idea.
- Submit your idea: over the weekend of the hackathon, you will submit several documents including a one pager, pitch, video and additional evidence.
- You may be chosen as a finalist: From February 23, the panel of judges will assess the teams and proposals submitted. The finalists will be announced on March 10. The grand final will take place in Gothenburg, Sweden at Nordic Life Science Days in October 2025.
Important dates
If you want to be part of this innovative adventure, here are some dates to remember:
- Registration deadline: December 24.
- Deadline to choose teams: February 8.
- Hackathon in Barcelona: February 22-23.
- Local finalists announced: March 10.
- Grand final in Sweden: October 13.
Who can participate?
The hackathon is open to all types of innovators: researchers, software developers, healthcare professionals, entrepreneurs and anyone interested in helping improve global health. If you have an innovative idea or want to be part of a multidisciplinary team working to create disruptive solutions, now is your time to take action.
