Today, King Saud University launched the second Digital Health Innovation Hackathon, titled “Healthon 2026,” organized by the University Medical City at the Hamad Al-Jasser Hall from October 1 to 4. The event was attended by the Acting President of King Saud University, Prof. Dr. Ali bin Mohammed Masmali. The event reflects the University’s commitment to supporting healthcare innovation and developing national talent capable of creating advanced technological solutions that enhance the efficiency and quality of healthcare. The hackathon is aligned with national efforts to expand the adoption of modern technologies, with a particular focus on artificial intelligence applications, which constitute a key pillar of this year’s technological development strategies. It also reinforces the University Medical City’s position as a leader in transforming innovative digital ideas into practical applications that serve the community.In his address, Dr. Masmali emphasized that the University’s continued support from the wise leadership has contributed to strengthening the higher education and scientific research ecosystem, enabling the University to develop its programs and initiatives and enhance partnerships among government entities, universities, and the private sector. These efforts support excellence and innovation, foster the development of high-quality solutions to challenges, contribute to achieving the objectives of national strategies, and help build a future driven by knowledge and technology.Eng. Mubarak Al-Shahrani, Executive Director of Information Technology and Digital Transformation at the University Medical City, explained that Healthon 2026 aims to promote innovation in the healthcare sector and contribute to improving quality of life by encouraging participants to embrace a culture of innovation and creativity in addressing healthcare challenges. He added that this edition builds on the success achieved last year.Eng. Al-Shahrani noted that the hackathon has expanded its scope of participation and raised the level of its challenges by providing an advanced development environment that begins with identifying and studying healthcare challenges, followed by designing digital solutions and culminating in the development of prototypes, implementation plans, and operational trials that can be tested in a real healthcare environment. This edition also features four main tracks: health insurance technologies, proactive healthcare, digital patient experience, and women’s digital health. These tracks reflect the latest global trends in healthcare innovation and contribute to the development of digital solutions that enhance the efficiency of healthcare services and improve beneficiaries’ experiences.Al-Shahrani further explained that Healthon 2026 targets university students, developers, software engineers, researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs, healthcare practitioners, as well as experts and professionals interested in the healthcare sector. The hackathon seeks to provide a platform that brings together diverse disciplines and expertise to develop innovative solutions that address healthcare challenges, support the development of digital solutions, and accelerate promising projects.Notably, this edition features cash prizes totaling more than SAR 1 million, including prizes for the top three winners in each track, as well as cash prizes for the top winners of several challenges. It also offers opportunities to incubate and further develop winning projects, in addition to adopting the best solutions within the University Medical City at King Saud University. This will enable participants to transform their ideas into practical projects with a sustainable impact on the digital healthcare sector.
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