Samsung, MIT and the VHA Gear Up for the D.C. MIT Hackathon to Foster Healthcare Entrepreneurship

Participants Can Use Samsung’s Galaxy Note9 and Gear S3 to Develop Digital Health Solutions for Veterans

WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Samsung Electronics Americas, Inc., the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Department of Veteran’s Affairs Veteran’s Health Administration (VHA) are excited to announce the next MIT Hacking Medicine Grand Hack taking place on August 2 – 4 at the Samsung Executive Briefing Center located in Washington, D.C. Similar to the Boston event held in June, students, engineers, clinicians, designers and developers will immerse themselves in healthcare innovation over this three-day event.

“Since the opening of our D.C. Solutions Center last October, we have been working to engage, support and educate government customers, policymakers and technology leaders to reinforce Samsung’s commitment to Washington and the U.S.,” said Taher Behbehani, SVP and GM of Samsung’s Mobile B2B Division. “Participating in events like the Hackathon with our partners at MIT and VHA, and hosting it in our D.C. office, supports our pledge to building a collaborative ecosystem to provide transformative mobility to the government community.”

“MIT Hacking Medicine’s mission to energize and connect the best minds across the healthcare and technology ecosystems to solve challenges dovetails perfectly with Samsung’s goal of delivering cutting-edge mobile solutions,” said Chris Balcik, VP of Federal, Samsung Electronics America. “We are proud to lend our support and solutions to address challenges like access to healthcare head on.”

Teams participating in the Hack will leverage the Samsung Galaxy Note9, the Samsung Gear S3, Samsung SDKs and the Samsung Knox platform to create compelling application concepts to address Veteran Access to Healthcare; Mental Health and Professional Burnout; and Rare and Orphan Diseases. Samsung will honor the three teams that most effectively embrace Samsung technology when creating a transformative digital health solution with the Samsung Breakthroughs that Matter award. The goal of this award is to cultivate a cadre of innovative development teams that put forward compelling applications for our nation’s veterans.

“This event is a great example of how VA is partnering with academic and industry partners like Samsung and MIT to find new ways to improve Veterans health care and delivery,” said Dr. Carolyn Clancy, Deputy Under Secretary for Discovery, Education and Affiliate Networks. “Health challenges that Veterans face aren’t one-dimensional and don’t lend themselves to one-size fits all solutions—which why these Grand Hacks are great opportunities to engage students, entrepreneurs, Veterans, health professionals and others with fresh perspectives and ideas, to help us improve care for our country’s Veterans.”

By providing MIT Hacking Medicine with access to Samsung’s engineering expertise, developer resources, and mobile technologies, the brightest young minds of today can work to create real-world opportunities to impact tomorrow’s outcomes for veterans. From healthcare analytics, to clinical workflows, to doctor-patient communication, no element of healthcare is going unchanged.

For more information about the Grand Hack in Boston a few months ago, please visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvPPqz0iZzc.

For more information about how Samsung is helping Healthcare and Government industries change the way they address business challenges, please visit https://insights.samsung.com/.

About Samsung Electronics America, Inc.

Headquartered in Ridgefield Park, N.J., Samsung Electronics America, Inc. (SEA) is a recognized innovative leader in consumer electronics, mobile devices and enterprise solutions. A wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., SEA is pushing beyond the limits of today’s technology and providing consumers and organizations with a portfolio of groundbreaking products in appliances, home entertainment, Internet of Things, mobile computing, smartphones, virtual reality, wireless infrastructure and wearables, in addition to offering leading content and services related to mobile payments, 360-degree VR video, customer support and more. Samsung is a pioneering leader in smartphones and HDTVs in the U.S. and one of America’s fastest growing home appliance brands. To discover more about Samsung, please visit www.samsung.com. For the latest Samsung news, please visit news.samsung.com/us and follow us @SamsungNewsUS.

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