39 students from Piedmont challenged their European colleagues during the two-day event organized by Apro Formazione, the Italian coordinator of the European project CoVe CARE about IT, at the Alba headquarters of the Training Organization
Hackathons are a valuable educational tool to stimulate collaboration between students from seemingly distant educational contexts and to encourage the exchange of skills: for this reason, the European partnership of the European project CoVe CARE about IT, led in Italy by Apro Formazione, organised an international event on 13th and 14th March at the Agenzia Formativa headquarters in Alba.
Six teams, made up of 39 students, challenged their Finnish, Dutch and Estonian counterparts to formulate a solution to 9 challenges proposed by digital and social health companies, third sector organisations and training institutes from the four European countries participating in the competition.
During the event, students from Apro Formazione's Professional Qualification Course for Social and Healthcare Workers, from ITS ICT Foundation for Information and Communication Technologies of Turin, from Colleretto Giacosa's Foundation ITS Academy Biotechnology Piedmont and from the University of Eastern Piedmont's Degree Course in Nursing worked together in six groups. They were supported in the development of their projects by digital, IT, business and marketing professionals who shared their experience and expertise with the participants, both in person and online.
The coordination of the various online phases of the competition was handled by the Estonian partners of the project, led by Tallin Healthcare College: the students were able to put into practice their technical and problem solving skills, as well as their cooperation and interaction abilities, experimenting with a form of active learning and comparing themselves with international professionals in four remote mentoring sessions.
At the end of the two days of work, the 27 European teams were asked to present their ideas in a 2-minute pitch: five members of the jury, from the four partner countries, subjected the participants to a crossfire of questions and evaluated the proposed solutions focusing on originality and innovation; feasibility and transferability; systematic vision; completeness and comprehensiveness.
The winner was one of the Estonian teams, with a proposal for the collection of hospital waste that was inspired by existing products, to adapt them to the healthcare context.
The Italian solution in response to the challenge launched by SurgiQ for the optimization of the interface for managing appointments and operations in a medical facility was also particularly appreciated.
The CARE about IT project will continue its activities in the coming weeks with an exchange of teachers: four Italian teachers, selected by Apro Formazione through an Erasmus+ mobility program, will leave on March 31st for Estonia for a week of job shadowing organized by the Tallin Healthcare College.
For info: Irene Miretti, Project Manager -
Photo gallery of the event available at the link https://photos.app.goo.gl/jSWhVVkiV89hZLMF6
