Three days. Six innovation lanes. Africa's leading academic hospital as your sandbox. R 140,000 in cash prizes for the teams that build what matters.
Applications open May 2026. Teams of 3-5. Individual applicants welcome.
The DPI Health Hackathon is designed to surface problem-led ideas, build rapid prototypes and accelerate the next generation of African health innovation.
Healthcare in South Africa faces a critical inflection point. Groote Schuur Hospital's 7,000-strong clinical workforce and 12 world-first innovations create a uniquely powerful platform to accelerate the next generation of health solutions.
By bringing together healthcare professionals, entrepreneurs, researchers and industry partners for an intensive 3-day event on the Groote Schuur Hospital campus, the DPI Health Hackathon creates the conditions for breakthrough innovation to emerge.
Apply now →Real problems. Practical solutions. Meaningful impact.
A clear path, whether you're applying solo, as a partial team or as a fully-formed group.
Tell us who you are, what problem you care about and which lane you're drawn to. Individuals welcome, we help with team-matching.
We review applications and notify shortlisted participants. You'll be invited to the 6-part webinar series where team formation and problem framing happen.
A six-part online webinar series running 10 June to 19 August, with each session building towards the in-person hackathon: 01 Orient (10 Jun), 02 Ground (24 Jun), 03 Find the Gap (08 Jul), 04 Make it Buildable (22 Jul), 05 Make it Last (05 Aug) and 06 Make it Land (19 Aug). Each session maps to a judging criterion.
11 - 13 September 2026 at Groote Schuur Hospital. Build with your team, stress-test ideas with clinicians and iterate fast on the ward floor.
Final pitches to the judging panel. Top three teams share R 140,000 in cash prizes, plus alumni-network access for the long haul.
Every lane is backed by a dedicated clinical mentor and built around a real problem from the frontline.
EHR, clinical decision support, AI diagnostics, patient engagement tools.
Novel therapeutics, biosensors, genomics applications and lab innovations.
Point-of-care devices, diagnostics, imaging and assistive health technology.
NHI readiness, digital payments, referral tools and equitable access solutions.
Procurement, logistics, last-mile delivery and operational efficiency.
Emergency response, trauma care, blood services and triage support systems.
Open to anyone with a stake in improving healthcare in Africa. Individual applicants will be supported to find teammates during team formation.
Doctors, nurses, allied health and clinical staff from Groote Schuur Hospital and partner hospitals.
Health tech founders and early-stage teams ready to validate inside a real hospital.
Developers, engineers and product designers who want to ship into a high-stakes environment.
Researchers from UCT, Stellenbosch and partner institutions with ideas worth commercialising.
Medical and health science students, undergraduate and postgraduate, welcome.
Corporate health, pharma, medtech professionals and public health practitioners.
A structured path from concept to pitch, a 6-part webinar series building to three days in person. Each session maps to a judging criterion.
Applications open. Challenge statements published across 6 innovation lanes. Shortlisting and notification of selected participants.
A six-part online webinar series in the lead-up to the in-person hackathon. Each step builds towards 11 - 13 September.
The six lanes, human-centred design, prototyping and founder pathways.
Health data, interoperability, realistic MVP scope and data privacy / POPIA.
The SA health system & NHI, what's been tried, and scoping a sub-problem worth solving.
Business models in African health, funding, scaling and measuring impact.
Clinicians surface real hospital problems; policy frames the system. Anchor to what matters.
Storytelling, what judges reward, demo prep and live critique against the scorecard.
Friday 11 September (16:00 - 20:00). Kick-off at Groote Schuur Hospital campus. Saturday 12 September (08:00 - 20:00). Full day of building with mentors. Sunday 13 September (08:00 - 18:30). Final build, pitching and demo day. Awards ceremony from 16:00.
The hackathon ends but the network doesn't. Stay connected with the cohort for collaboration, mentorship and future opportunities.
Every submission is evaluated across six criteria designed to identify ventures that are clinically real, technically feasible and commercially scalable.
Is the problem real, significant and well-validated within the South African healthcare context?
Does the solution offer a genuinely new approach or meaningfully improve on existing methods?
Can the proposed solution be built and deployed within a realistic timeframe and resource constraint?
Is there a credible pathway to commercialisation, sustainability and scale across Africa?
Does the team bring the right mix of clinical, technical and entrepreneurial skills?
What is the potential scale of impact on patient outcomes, system efficiency or healthcare access in Africa?
Final judging is done by a rotating panel drawn from four lenses, so every team is stress-tested on more than just a good demo.
Heads of department and consultants from Groote Schuur Hospital and partner hospitals.
Early-stage health investors and foundation leaders funding African innovation.
Founders who have taken a health venture from prototype to scale on the continent.
Executives from hospital groups, medtech, pharma and public health bodies.
Cash prizes that matter. The top three teams share R 140,000 and take home recognition from a panel of clinical experts, entrepreneurs and investors from across Africa.
Want to be part of the story? We offer Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze sponsorship tiers, each with hospital, ecosystem and impact benefits.
Anyone with a stake in improving healthcare in Africa. We welcome healthcare professionals, entrepreneurs, engineers, designers, researchers, students, corporate innovators and NGO practitioners. We look for diverse, multidisciplinary teams of 3-5 people. Individual applicants are welcome, we'll help with team formation.
No. Participation is free for selected teams. Meals, workspace and mentorship during the hackathon are covered.
No. You can apply with a problem you care about, a rough concept, or a working prototype. The 6-part webinar series (10 June to 19 August) will help you form teams, frame your problem and shape your solution before the in-person weekend.
The in-person hackathon (11 - 13 September 2026) is hosted on the Groote Schuur Hospital campus in Cape Town. Participants are expected to attend in person. We welcome applications from across South Africa and the continent, travel and accommodation are at your own expense.
The top three teams share R 140,000 in cash prizes. All participants become part of the Health Hack alumni network, a peer community for ongoing collaboration, mentorship and access to future opportunities.
Teams retain full ownership of their IP. The organisers do not take equity as a condition of participation. Any commercial engagement beyond the hackathon is negotiated separately on mutually agreed terms.
Submissions are evaluated by a panel of clinical experts, entrepreneurs, investors and industry partners across six criteria: clinical relevance, innovation, technical feasibility, business viability, team capability and impact potential.
Email us at gshicteam@gmail.com, we'll send through the sponsorship deck and details on our Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze tiers.
Tell us a bit about you and your idea. Individual applicants are welcome, we'll help with team formation.