“HackThePlanet" by DKV and MWCapital kicks off to find technological solutions applicable to environmental health

FEBRUARY 14, 2022 BHH News

This morning "HackThePlanet", a 5G innovation corridor promoted by DKV and organised by Mobile World Capital Barcelona (MWCapital) and Garage Stories, was presented at the DKV Innolab, in the headquarters of Barcelona Health Hub at the modernist site of the Sant Pau Hospital. This initiative seeks to explore the potential of smart grids and new technologies applied to environmental action to improve human and planetary health. Participants, who can be from anywhere in the world, will work on the challenge "How can we improve the health of human beings by taking better care of the planet? The presentation ceremony was attended by Eva Rosell, Director General of Barcelona Health Hub, who remarked that "at Barcelona Health Hub we are happy to encourage all these Hackathons, which are so important for the digital health ecosystem. And even more so when they take place at our home and in the facilities of our partner since the beginning of the Association, DKV. Finding ideas together can only improve health and the planet where we live." On behalf of DKV, Marta Pahissa, head of the environmental transformation unit, stressed that "with this hackathon from DKV, we want to make an international call to the brightest minds so that, together, we can find ideas to improve human health while improving the health of ecosystems. Within the framework of new technologies and data, we seek to help society adapt its lifestyle, its relationship with nature and its consumption patterns to improve planetary health." Eduard Martín, CIO and director of Smart Connectivity at MWCapital, explained that "at MWCapital we are committed to generating an ecosystem that makes use of technology and smart connectivity in a sustainable way to contribute to solving major environmental and health challenges. Organising this hackathon allows us to inspire and bring together people from different sectors but with the same objective." The aim of this health hackathon is to foster new connections between creatives and technologists from around the world to develop innovative projects that can help people move from environmental awareness to action. A purpose very much in line with the philosophy of DKV, a health activist company that strives for a healthier world and is a leader in contributing to reducing the impact of climate change for the health of people and the planet. From February 14th until the 24th, the "HackThePlanet" event will feature live virtual sessions with experts from around the world offering masterclasses on environmental action, planetary health, storytelling, design, behavioural science, etc. to inspire and prepare participants for the hackathon.

The first inaugural talk in online format will be held today February 14th at 18h CET with Dr. Maria Neira, Director of the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health of the World Health Organization. The meeting, called "#HackThePlanet Challenge Briefing: How can we improve humans' health by taking better care of the planet? Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, epidemiologist of ISGlobal, international expert on environmental exposures, Khahlil Louisy, president of the Institute of Technology and Global Health and of the working group "AI and Technology for Public Health" of the WHO or Dr. Lora E. Fleming, director of the European Centre for Environment and Human Health and professor at the University of Exeter Medical School. The weekend of 25-27 February 2022 will be the weekend of the Creation Lab where participants will work on their idea remotely following a series of creation sessions with more experts in environmental action, design thinking, prototyping, storytelling and business modelling, and with the help of local and international mentors who can assist them online in the development of their solution. DKV's strategy against climate change DKV, an activist health company, presented at the end of 2020 "Planet Health", the company's strategy to contribute to slowing down climate change until 2030. Some of the company's commitments are to become the first climate-positive insurer in the country, to offset all the emissions generated by the company since its creation and to plant 1 million trees by 2030. The insurer has been fighting climate change for more than 15 years: in 2004 it began measuring its emissions and taking measures to mitigate their impact. As a result, it can now boast that it has reduced its emissions by more than 90.65%, has been ZeroCO2 in its operational footprint since 2007 and has positioned itself as a positive footprint since 2019. In addition, it has incorporated the environmental discourse into its products and services, such as ecological home insurance and ecofuneral. It has also added the nature dose indicator in the I Want to Take Care of Myself app and has presented 13 reports of the DKV Observatory for Health and the Environment, has trained 397 children in the Plant for the Planet academies and has planted more than 50,000 trees since it started the first tree plantations with volunteer employees in 2013. MWCapital's commitment to the hackathon format MWCapital has previously organised other hackathons in the field of health and mobility. Last year, Hack the Hospital was held together with Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona, Boston Children Hospital and Garage Stories to design solutions based on 5G and extended reality to reduce the negative impact of long hospital stays for teenagers. Over the two days, 50 multidisciplinary teams worked on the design of their solution with the help of real patients from the two hospitals, mentors and international speakers. Another of the hackathons organised this year was the 5G Smart Railway, which aimed to find innovative ideas that take advantage of the benefits offered by 5G technology to improve rail transport. Also promoted by Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya and Vodafone, with the collaboration of WorldStartup, it was divided into two stages: a programme to prepare the teams with technical content on subjects related to Smart mobility and another, the hackathon, where participants interacted to come up with innovative ideas that could become pilot projects to improve the railway sector.

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