HACKATON: E-HEALTH

The pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus contributed to significant changes in the everyday lives of the overall population and further put into focus the health and health care systems around the world. The E-Health Hackathon was created to respond to the needs of the citizens and to facilitate the path to tackling the challenges associated with preventing certain diseases.

Со овој повик Фондот за иновации и технолошки развој (ФИТР) во соработка со Рош Македонија како корпоративен партнер, заедно со Министерство за здравство и Управата за електронско здравство како партнери во имплементацијата, се вклучуваат во напорите за подобрување на здравјето на граѓаните преку поддршка на решенија кои придонесуваат за подобро справување со последиците од пандемијата како и за подигање на свеста за важноста на превенцијата и раното откривање на малигните заболувања кај жените.

The goal of the Hackathon is to encourage and motivate citizens and organizations to think in the direction of developing innovative and creative solutions to prevent diseases and maintain the health of the population in the following two areas:

• better management of the health care system in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic (prevention and better management of high-risk patient groups) and
• women’s health (prevention for reduction of the risk of malignant diseases).

The proposed solutions should demonstrate a potential for their application in the public health operating systems.

• • Solutions for easier monitoring and updating of the information by the authorities associated with the COVID-19 virus and the preventive measures
  • Solutions for monitoring and easier keeping of records of citizens who have received a vaccine against the COVID-19 virus in the country and abroad
  • Solutions with which patients at a high risk of complications from the COVID-19 virus would be selected in a system (to give a notification to the family doctor or the institution to which he/she will be referred)
  • Solutions for early detection of breast cancer
  • Development of a digital passport for women’s health where every woman will send a screening and examinations of the breast, cervix (HPV) and vaccination status (for HPV and HBV)

  *The list contains only suggestions of possible solutions that teams can work on and it is not restrictive

The proposed solutions can be in the form of a web or mobile application or another form of product intended to solve a specific problem faced by a group of citizens in any of the above areas or to digitize an existing service or improve an existing solution within the health care system. They should be intended for the categories of citizens affected by the aforementioned areas.

The challenge is open to all interested individuals, groups, organizations and companies that believe that they can make a creative contribution to the achievement of the aforementioned goals.

Accordingly, the applicant may be a

• Trade company established in accordance with the Law on Trade Companies and registered in the Central Registry of the Republic of North Macedonia
• Team consisting of at least 2 and at most 5 (five) members – natural persons or
• Natural person

If a natural person is applying, he/she will be included in the teams that lack members with the appropriate profile. In order for best results to be achieved during the Hackathon, it is advisable for each registered team to have at least one IT engineer (programmer), a person who works in the field of natural or medical sciences, a designer and a person with experience in running a business/an entrepreneur.

In cases when a trade company is registered as an applicant, it should meet the following eligibility criteria:

• the annual income of the applicant should not exceed 1,000,000 (one million) euros in denar counter value, according to the financial reports for the previous two fiscal years;
• the average number of employees should not exceed 250 employees;
• more than 6 (six) years should not have passed from the moment of registration of the trade company until the moment of submission of the project proposal to the Fund;
• the trade company should be owned by a natural person and/or a legal entity (that is not state-owned), / an association or foundation and/or an institution performing a higher education, i.e., scientific and research activity (with ownership share of the applicant of up to 20%);
• • the applicant or its partners/shareholders should not be direct or indirect owners of over 20% in another trade company/companies whose individual annual income exceeds 1,000,000 (one million) euros in denar counter value in the previous two fiscal years and whose average individual number of employees does not exceed 250 employees, except in the case of affiliation with a higher education, i.e., scientific and research institution;
• there should be no bankruptcy or litigation proceedings initiated against it;
• it should have all due liabilities on the basis of public duties and contributions settled;
• there should be no proceedings for forcible enforcement of overdue monetary claims initiated against it;
• in accordance with the Law on State Aid Control and the Regulation on the requirements and the procedure for granting de minimis aid, it should meet the following requirements:
• it should not have more than 200,000 (two hundred thousand) euros accumulated of de minimis aid for a period of three fiscal years, including the requested amount of funds from the Fund;
• it should not have more than 100,000 (one hundred thousand) euros accumulated of de minimis aid for a period of three fiscal years, including the requested amount of funds from the Fund, if the company is active in the road transport sector;
• it should not be in difficulty (an enterprise in difficulty is an enterprise that is unable to meet its obligations from its own resources or with funds it may receive from its owner/shareholders or creditors in order to stop the losses that without the external intervention of providers of aid will certainly lead to a short-term and long-term termination of the operation of the enterprise) and
• it should not be engaged in coal production.

In cases when the Applicant is registered as a team whose project proposal has passed the selection phase, the Applicant is obliged within 30 calendar days after receiving the Notice of Project Selection, to establish a trade company in which the founders will be at least 51% of the team members, which company will assume all rights and obligations in relation to the implementation of the Project and which will meet the eligibility criteria of this Article and the overall public call.

The total budget for the Hackathon is 30,000 euros in denar counter value, which is the maximum amount of funds for financing an individual project proposal. The funds are provided in the following ratio: 51% by the corporate partner Roche and 49% by FITD.

The payment of the funds shall be made in the following manner: 50% in advance, after the signing of the contract, and the remaining 50% shall be paid after the implementation of the solution and the submission of a final report.

The deadline for implementation of the projects is up to 60 days. Based on justified circumstances, the Fund may approve the extension of the deadline for implementation of the project for an additional 1 (one) month.

• research and development activities;
• development of pilot lines/product/s and/or service/s;
• activities for testing and validation of new and/or improved products/services/processes;
• activities for market testing and validation of potential customers;
• activities related to intellectual property protection and
• design.
•  

• Gross salaries with included salary allowances defined in accordance with the Law on Labour Relations (working on holidays, on Sundays, shift work, night work, etc.) for persons who are or will be employed by the beneficiary or directly participate in the implementation of the project. The amounts of the gross salaries for the employees engaged in the project should correspond to the established practices of the beneficiary prior to the start of the project, reduced by the amount of a potential state subsidiary received on the basis of salary;
• Procurement and/or rental of equipment and consumables for research and development;
• Subcontracting research and development services (e.g., testing, laboratory services, etc.);
• Hiring research and development experts/advisors;
• Hiring consultants for needs directly related to the project results (expertise in innovation management, financial management, asset mobilization, business development, marketing expertise for market testing and validation of potential beneficiaries, legal affairs, intellectual property protection, etc.);
• Preparation and filing of a patent application, trademark and/or industrial design protection;
• Office and business support (rental of office space, overhead costs, bank fees, accounting services, hosting and other types of operating costs related to the implementation of the project) in a maximum amount of 15% of the total project budget.
•  

• • • costs for procurement of goods, services and works from domestic public enterprises, with the exception of overhead costs;
    • costs for interest or debt of another party;
    • expenses and provisions for past or possible future losses or debts;
    • coverage of losses due to currency exchange, fees and penalties;
    • food and hospitality costs;
    • staff recruitment costs (costs for publishing job announcements, commissions from employment agencies, costs related to the selection of candidates, etc.) and relocation costs;
    • purchase of land or buildings, including renovation;
    • cash payment from the designated project account;
    • export activities (costs directly related to export of products, establishment and operation of a distribution network and the like or other current costs of the applicant related to export activities);
    • annual patent maintenance fees (with the exception of well-justified cases assessed as an allowable cost in the evaluation of the project proposals);
    • salary allowances in the form of a compensation for annual leave, thirteenth salary, work performance, etc.;
    • costs for consulting services provided by the owner/s of the beneficiary and the authorized persons of the Beneficiary (manager/director);
    • costs for consulting services provided by persons employed by the Beneficiary;
    • lease of business premises from a lessor that participates in the project activities or is a person associated with the beneficiary;
    • procurement of freight transport vehicles by companies that provide freight road transport for rental or for a fee;
    • procurement of passenger vehicles (with the exception of well-justified cases assessed as an allowable cost in the evaluation of the project proposals);
    • costs for procurement of used equipment;
    • value added tax (VAT) for all procurements referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article;
    • direct marketing costs and

    costs for implementation of activities that were previously financed from other sources.

• • The Evaluation and Selection Committee shall comprise of:

    • One (1) expert in the field of the challenge
    • One (1) expert in the field of business development and/or marketing and sales
    • One (1) representative of Roche Macedonia
    • One (1) representative of the E-Health Administration
    • One (1) representative of the Fund

    The Committee operates on the basis of a Rules of Procedure of the Evaluation and Selection Committee that is adopted at the first meeting of the Committee.

     

    NOTE: At the request of the members of the Committee, the Fund may hire experts who will provide expert opinion on certain applications, appropriate to the area of their expertise. In such a case, the expert opinion will be taken into account by the members of the Committee in the evaluation of the application.

The procedure, from the receipt of the submitted applications until the selection and the adoption of the final decision on selection and awarding of funds to the beneficiary/ies, consists of the following steps:

• Administrative verification of the project documentation (whether it is complete and in accordance with the eligibility requirements stated in the public call);
• First evaluation of the project proposal (pre-selection)
  • The pre-selection is performed based on the relevance of the submitted draft concepts together with the budget and the capacity of the project team
• Selection of the best project proposals
  • The selection is performed based on the evaluation and selection criteria
  • Pitching or presentation of the pre-selected project proposals before an Evaluation and Selection Committee
• Signing of contracts

• Based on the submitted draft concepts, the Evaluation and Selection Committee will pre-select candidates for participation in the Hackathon. The pre-selected participants/draft concepts will be part of a 48-hour Hackathon with online presence, where with expert support from FITD, Roche, the E-Health Administration and other partner organizations/institutions, they will develop a prototype or a demo version of the solution.
• At the end of the Hackathon, the teams will present their solutions to the Evaluation and Selection Committee, which will be followed by a final selection of the winner/s.
• The awarded legal entities will be obliged to use the awarded funds to develop and launch a working version of the solution within 60 days from the day of signing the contract with the Fund.
•  

• In the evaluation of the proposed solutions, the Committee will focus on the following criteria:

  1. Relevance of the idea and degree of innovation (15%),
  2. Capacity of the project team (20%),
  3. Quality of the project and presentation of the solution (15%) and
  4. Opportunity and implementation plan and market potential (30%),
  5. Impact of the solution (20%).

  The Fund reserves the right to negotiate with the competitors regarding the defining of the activities and the budget details of the project on the basis of recommendations received from the Evaluation and Selection Committee, prior to the signing of the Awarded Contract.

  The Fund reserves the right not to award a contract if there are insufficient quality project proposals or the prerequisites for awarding the contract under these Rules and the requirements set forth in the Public Call are not met.

  The evaluation criteria are provided at the following link – Evaluation Table.

   

The selected solutions will be fully available free of charge to all citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia, at least within one year after the completion of the project.The policy for access and use of the solutions by citizens of other countries shall be determined by the applicant.

When applying, the following documents must be submitted:

• a duly completed draft concept form, available through the webpage of the Fund:
• CVs of the main people engaged in the project (maximum for five people).

The overall documentation should be submitted in Macedonian language. The project documentation must be submitted on the forms prepared by the Fund.

The project documentation together with the CVs should be attached to the application form available at the following link: https://fitr.mk/hakatonzdravstvo/by clicking on the“Apply” button..

In case a competitor is awarded a grand, the Fund reserves the right to request other documentation, which should be submitted as soon as possible.

The application deadline for the Public Call is 17.06.2021, until 2:00 PM.

Only those project proposals that are submitted in the above manner and within the above deadline will be considered for funding.

The Hackathon will be held online in the period 25-27 June 2021.

Правилата и процедурите за спроведување, следење и надзор на проектот се дефинирани во документот Правила за организирање и спроведување на натпревари и предизвици за поттикнување на иновативноста во приоритетните области од науката и технологијата  од 20.01.2020 година и Правилата  за дополнување на Правилата за организирање и спроведување на натпревари и предизвици за поттикнување на иновативноста во приоритетните области од науката и технологијата од 16.03.2020 и 01.06.2020 година.

For all additional information you can:

– write to us at the e-mail address: hakaton.zdravstvo@fitr.mk

– call the telephone number: 02 3145 258

In order to help you prepare the project proposals, the Fund will organize info-events; free technical assistance from experts; and mentoring workshops during the call.

Информациите за овие активности ќе бидат навремено објавувани на веб страната на хакатонот, веб-страната на Фондот, како и на официјалните профили на Фондот и Рош Македонија на социјалните мрежи (Фејсбук и Инстаграм).