DKV and MWCapital are promoting “Hack The Planet”, a hackathon seeking innovative projects that help people move from environmental awareness to action

• It is a 5G innovation corridor organised by Mobile World Capital Barcelona and Garage Stories.
• “Hack the Planet” seeks to explore the potential of digital technologies, especially smart networks and new technologies, applied to environmental action to improve human and planetary health.

14 December, 2021

Yesterday, 14 December, the “Hack the Planet” call for proposals was launched. This 5G Innovation Corridor is a European project promoted by DKV and organised by Mobile World Capital Barcelona (MWCapital) and Garage Stories to explore the potential of smart networks and new technologies applied to environmental action. This initiative is looking for participants who can work on the challenge “How can we improve human health while taking better care of the planet?“.

The aim of this health hackathon is to foster new connections between creatives and tech professionals from all around the world to develop innovative projects that can help people move from environmental awareness to action. This aim is 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 on people’s health.

From 14 to 24 February, live virtual sessions with experts in environmental action, wellbeing, storytelling and design, etc. from all over the world will be held to inspire and prepare participants for the hackathon.

The creation lab will take place on the weekend of 25-27 February 2022. Participants will work remotely, following a series of masterclasses with experts in environmental action, design thinking, prototyping, storytelling and business modelling. They will be assisted by local and international mentors who will be able to help them online.

Those interested in taking part can apply individually or in groups of up to 3 to create multidisciplinary teams to develop ideas for exploiting the potential of new technologies to help society adapt its lifestyle and consumption patterns to improve people’s health while caring for the planet.

“Hack the planet” seeks to explore the potential of emerging technologies (XR/AI/5G). The organisers are not interested so much in the participants’ ability to code an impressive application in 72 hours, as in their ability to empathise with humans and think up innovative solutions.

This initiative is looking for participants to take part in the hackathon, as well as artists who want to reinforce the message: “It is time to turn environmental awareness into action.” The two winners will be presented at the MWCapital stand at MWC22 and incubated and developed in collaboration with DKV.

The proposed challenges must always answer the question “How can we improve human health while taking better care of the planet?” and must respond to one of these sub-challenges:

1. My body: interaction with nature. How can we maximise the benefits of nature for human health while being more environmentally friendly?
2. My home: consumption patterns and household habits. How can we be more responsible and measure the impact of our choices (food, clothing, etc.) on our own health and on the planet? How can we encourage the adoption of better habits in households?
3. My society: collective action. How can we foster collaboration between neighbours to improve the overall health of the local community and the environment in the short and medium term?

Marta Pahissa is the head of the Environmental Transformation Unit at DKV Seguros. She is one of the environmental experts who will give a session for the participants on 14 February: “We do not pay enough attention to how our health is enormously influenced by the environment. We can never be healthy on a sick planet. We go running to make up for our sedentary lifestyle or we plant trees to alleviate pollution, but we need to go further and thoroughly redesign the relationship of our home, work and society with natural ecosystems. It is time to turn environmental awareness into action.“

Pahissa added that “through this hackathon, DKV is making an international call to the brightest minds so that we can all together find ideas to improve human health while improving the health of ecosystems. Within the framework of new technologies and data, we are seeking to help society adapt its lifestyle, its relationship with nature and its consumption patterns to improve planetary health.”

According to Eduard Martín, Director of Smart Connectivity at Mobile World Capital Barcelona, “Technologies such as 5G and augmented reality have huge potential to offer new services and experiences in the fields of health and entertainment. At MWCapital we are committed to initiatives such as the hackathon to find ideas and projects that help improve people’s lives.”

DKV’s strategy against climate change

At the end of 2020, DKV, a health activist company, presented “Planet Health“, the company’s strategy to contribute to slowing down climate change by 2030. Some of the company’s commitments include becoming the country’s first climate-positive insurer, offsetting all the emissions generated by the company since its creation and planting one million trees by 2030.

The insurer has been fighting climate change for more than 15 years: in 2004 it started measuring its emissions and taking steps to mitigate their impact. As a result, it can now boast that it has reduced its operational footprint by more than 90.65%. It has been ZeroC02 in its operational footprint since 2007 and it has had a positive footprint since 2019.

It has also incorporated environmental discourse into its products and services, such as green home insurance and ecofunerals. It has also added the nature dose indicator to the Quiero Cuidarme [I Want to Take Care of Myself] app and has presented 13 reports by the DKV Observatory for Health and the Environment. It has trained 397 children in the Plant for the Planet Academies and in 2013 it started the first tree plantations with employee volunteers.

MWCapital’s commitment to the hackathon format

MWCapital has previously organised other hackathons in the field of health and mobility. This year, Hack the Hospital was carried out together with Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona, Boston Children’s Hospital and Garage Stories to design solutions based on 5G and extended reality to reduce the negative impact of long hospital stays on adolescent patients. Over the course of two days, 50 multidisciplinary teams worked on the design of a solution with the help of real patients from the two hospitals, mentors and international speakers.

Another hackathon organised this year was the 5G Smart Railway, which aimed to find innovative ideas that take advantage of the benefits of 5G technology to improve rail transport. The hackathon was also promoted by Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya [Catalan railways] and Vodafone, with the collaboration of WorldStartup. It was divided into two stages: a programme to prepare the teams including technical content on subjects related to smart mobility; and the hackathon in which participants interacted to come up with innovative ideas that could become pilot projects to improve the railway industry.

About Garage Stories

Garage Stories is an audiovisual innovation laboratory that develops new media enabled by technology through innovation programmes, workshops and focus groups for technology companies where creatives from different fields come together to explore and co-create immersive and interactive experiences. Their aim is to ensure that the quality of content keeps pace with the development of technology.

Health activists

In March 2020, DKV presented its new “Health Activists” brand positioning in which it directly appeals to society to get directly involved in causes such as caring for the environment, the inclusion of people with disabilities, healthy eating, the fight against childhood obesity and the wellbeing of women.

DKV believes companies have a responsibility towards citizens and is committed to being a responsible business: the insurance company argues that the need to make profits through good products and good service is compatible with seeking social and environmental benefit.

In Spain, DKV operates throughout the country through an extensive network of health insurance offices (https://dkv.es/particulares) and consulting rooms, which serve nearly 2 million clients.