ADGHW 2025 Smart Health Hackathon winners revealed

When ambition meets imagination, sparks fly — and nowhere was that more evident than at Abu Dhabi Global Health Week 2025. The city's Smart Health Hackathon didn't just stir the pot — it rewrote the recipe. Over a few charged days, a melting pot of entrepreneurs, coders, university prodigies, and health-tech whizzes came together to tackle the biggest challenges in personal health and well-being. The stakes were high, the ideas bold, and the winners? Nothing short of brilliant.

How did it work?

This wasn't your average hackathon. Think real-time demos, pressure-cooker pitches, and sharp-eyed judges from tech, medicine, and investment circles.

• The competition split into two tracks: Smart Living and The Gym of Tomorrow.
• Teams built solutions live, with tools like AI, wearable tech, and gamification.
• Judges sized up the entries on innovation, feasibility, and impact.

One standout from the Smart Living category? A team that built CloudCare, a next-gen monitoring system for seniors. It uses a combo of AI, wearables, and cameras to watch for vital sign changes. If Grandma's stress spikes or her pulse dips, the system doesn't just log it — it places a smart call to a loved one, sharing real-time insights and suggested actions. It's proactive, conversational, and surprisingly human.

Meanwhile, in The Gym of Tomorrow, the spotlight fell on Limitless — a fitness platform built for women, by women. Unlike most generic fitness trackers built on male-centric data, this tool understands things like pregnancy and postpartum recovery. It watches your form, nudges corrections, and tracks your journey — all with the help of AI. Smart, safe, and finally tailored.

Why does it matter?

Let's face it: healthcare isn't one-size-fits-all. And yet, most of our tools still act like it is. That's why these projects hit a nerve.

As Dr. Asma Al Mannaei of the Department of Health - Abu Dhabi put it, "These winners exemplify the creativity and forward-thinking mindset needed to redefine the future of global health." This hackathon wasn't just about shiny tech. It was about building things that actually help real people — whether it's supporting an aging parent or empowering a new mom to reclaim her fitness.

And the reward? More than prize money. Winning teams unlock a launchpad: seed funding, pilot opportunities, and doors opened to investors and providers in the booming Abu Dhabi life sciences scene.

The context

Abu Dhabi isn't playing around when it comes to healthcare innovation. The city's been quietly building one of the world's most robust health-tech ecosystems — backed by solid data infrastructure, savvy policy, and a big vision for digital-first care.

• Over 100 teams applied, from startups to university labs.
• 16 handpicked teams made it to the hackathon after rigorous vetting.

- Finalists were matched across disciplines to maximize creativity and execution.

This hackathon is part of a broader push to make Abu Dhabi a launchpad for health innovation — where patient-centered tech isn't a buzzword, but a blueprint.

And if this year's ideas are anything to go by, that future's already on its way.