Timișoara Life Science Hackathon
09:00–21:00DevPlant Cowork
One day for engineers, medics, students and founders to build for biology, medicine and neuroscience, in mixed teams.
Free. Bring a laptop. Starts Sat 21 Nov, 09:00
- Whole room
- Teams build
- Lunch
- Pitch prep
- Pitches and winners
The day, read across
Doors open at 09:00 at DevPlant Cowork, Str. Proclamația de la Timișoara 5, 3rd floor.
- Gathering, registration, morning coffee
- Opening, intro talks, mentor intros
- Two-minute pitches and team forming
- Working session
- Lunch, socializing, informal time with mentors
- Working session two, with mentor feedback
- Pitching mini-training
- Finalizing projects
- Pitches and Q&A, 3 + 2 minutes per team
- Judging, pizza, beer and wine
- Winners announced, formal close
- Networking
Twenty years of engineering, pointed at living systems
Timișoara built its tech scene on automotive and software outsourcing. Global technology is moving on from both, and the city has to explore what comes next.
The skills are already here, and they carry over with very little translation. What has been missing is a room where the people who have them sit next to the people who know where they are needed.
Already in the city
- Image and pattern recognition
- Machine learning
- Signal and image processing
- Automation and autonomous control
- Robotics
- Hardware design and manufacturing
Needed in
- Biology
- Medtech
- Neuroscience
- Biotech
- Longevity
About 50 expected in the room
Open to high school students from 13, university students and working professionals. The challenge list, prizes and mentor line-up are not announced yet.
Seen enough? Registration asks four questions.
- Free
- Bring a laptop
- Teams form on the day
Mentor for a day
Teams have twelve hours and no time to be wrong for long. Someone who has seen the problem before saves them the afternoon.
Tech
Software, AI, imaging and robotics people
- Pick a realistic stack
- Unblock code and data
- Get the demo working
Medical
Doctors, researchers and biotech people
- Check the need is real
- Keep it clinically safe
- Share how care works
Business
Founders, investors, product and sales people
- Shape the value prop
- Test the business model
- Coach the final pitch
Free on 21 November? Tell us which kind of help you can give and when you can be there. Sponsors and investors can use the same address.
Before you register
Short answers to what people ask first. Anything else goes to the organizers.
Do I need a team or an idea?
No. After two-minute pitches, teams form at 10:20. On the registration form, “not decided yet” is an accepted answer.
Do I need to know how to code?
No. The form asks which skill you want to practise: project management, tech solution development, business development, design and communications are all on the list.
What does it cost?
Nothing. Participation is free.
What should I bring?
A laptop.
Can I come if I'm under 18?
Yes, from 13. High school students are part of the room. For anything about attending as a minor, write to the organizers.
What happens after the day?
Teams that want to keep building are invited to Get It Done Winter, DevPlant Cowork's program, with support and resources at no charge.
What are the challenges and prizes?
Not announced yet. They will be published before the event.
Who is running it
Nine volunteers from engineering, medicine and the local startup community.
Radu Ticiu
Community
Non-formal STEM educator and ecosystem builder. Has organised 20+ hackathons, including HackTM and NASA Space Apps Challenge, and leads (Bio)CoderDojo Timișoara.
Emanuel Rusu
Technical
Agentic AI developer with a BSc in Computer Science and an MSc in Cybersecurity. Aspen Institute community member.
Miruna-Maria Damian
Technical
University of Cambridge alumna and PhD student at Politehnica University of Timișoara. Works at Qualcomm.
Daniela Gros
Medical
Final-year medical student with clinical experience in the Netherlands and Austria across neurosurgery, radiology and psychiatry. SMURD volunteer.
Mihai Simedrea
Technical
Software developer and ML engineer, co-founder and CEO of Symbiote BCI. Second place at the Imperial College Neurotech Society Hackathon.
Raluca Ardelean
Technical
Senior Scrum Master, technical project manager and Agile trainer with 15+ years in IT and advanced studies in Applied Neuroscience.
Andreea Petrie
Medical
Dental student at Victor Babeș University of Medicine and Pharmacy and part-time Research Scholar in dentistry and biotechnology.
Claudia Secrieru
Administrative
Mechanical engineer with a doctorate from Politehnica University Timișoara, where she has been a Research Administrator since 2022.
Adriana Tamaș
Management
IT and cybersecurity project manager with a Master's in Medical Engineering. Final-year Psychology student at UBB.
A collaboration of
With BioCoderDojo Timișoara and the Neurosciences and BCI Timișoara Meetup.
Your row is still empty
Whether you're cramming for exams, saving lives, shipping code, or simply nosy. Registration runs on Major League Hacking (MLH), the hackathon league partnering with the event, and asks four things: what you do, where, which skill you want to practise and where your idea sits in the life sciences.