The 9th edition of the CASSINI Hackathon, focused on “Space for Healthcare,” took place from 16–18 May across ten European countries, including one non-EU country.
The event was organized by the CASSINI team in collaboration with local organizers in each participating country: Austrian Space Forum (Austria), Aarhus University (Denmark), Futuretournaments Oy (Finland), International Space University (France), Vision Health Pioneers Incubator (Germany), Envolve Entrepreneurship (Greece), Teseas srl (Italy), UAB Baltic Sandbox (Lithuania), NETCETERA DOOEL Skopje (North Macedonia), and IDEA – The Institute of Excellence in Entrepreneurship (Romania).
Where Space Meets Healthcare: Driving Innovation Forward
The 9th edition of the CASSINI Hackathon brought together hundreds of bright minds—including students, graduates, and professionals—from diverse fields such as space engineering, business, AI, software development, marketing, and pharmacy.
This year’s theme, “Space for Healthcare,” challenged participants to tackle three critical issues in today’s healthcare systems: monitoring disease outbreaks and health risks, enabling smart emergency healthcare delivery, and supporting mental health and well-being. Teams were tasked with developing innovative solutions using data from EU space assets like Galileo and Copernicus.
The Best from Each Local Edition
Over the weekend of 16–18 May, teams worked intensively on their ideas. On the final day, each participating country selected a winning team through a rigorous evaluation process. The ten national winners were:
- TERRAMED (Austria)
- DISCOntaminate (Denmark)
- SpaceScope (Finland)
- OrbitResQ (France)
- Neurostorm (Germany)
- EnviroCopilot (Greece)
- DRONER (Italy)
- PATH (Lithuania)
- MEDAIST – Air Health Map (North Macedonia)
- ARIA – Personal Assistant of Mental Health (Romania)
Time to Pitch! – The Demo Day
On 21 May, just three days after the hackathon, the ten national winners pitched their solutions to a high-level jury featuring representatives from the European Commission, the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), Novaspace, and Verhaert. After a round of inspiring presentations on the theme “Space for Healthcare,” three standout projects were selected:
- First place went to the Finnish team SpaceScope, who designed a remote device that captures heart sounds and transmits them via satellite to doctors—a life-saving tool for remote or high-risk areas.
- Second place was awarded to PATH from Lithuania, with a drone-based delivery system that brings emergency cardiovascular equipment when ambulances may be delayed.
- Third place went to EnviroCopilot from Greece, who developed a personalized AI assistant offering forecasts on heatwaves and air pollution, helping users take preventive measures based on their health profiles.
