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Now the final of the hackathon in Sweden’s first Grand Challenge has been decided. A total of twelve teams presented concepts that address the societal challenge of childhood obesity. Among the concepts that go on to phase two in the Grand Challenge are several innovative solutions with great potential to be further developed and scaled up for market introduction. The winner became a concept that helps families live healthier lives.
Grand Challenge is a type of innovation competition that has not previously been held in Sweden. The concept is about mobilizing a wide range of actors to generate different types of solutions to complex societal challenges.
Behind the Grand Challenge Prevent Childhood Obesity, is the project Ending Childhood Obesity, which is funded by the strategic innovation program Swelife. The project is carried out in collaboration with individual and patient representatives, municipalities and regions, academia, authorities, business, and the non-profit sector. The vision for the 10-year project is ending childhood obesity at the start of school in 2030 and that all children get an equal healthy start in life.
Twelve of sixteen teams reached the goal
The first part of the Grand Challenge consisted of a hackathon co-arranged with SAS Global Hackathon in March. The team has had to work further on their ideas for more developed concepts. To help, they have had access to advanced analysis tools, a collaborative environment, digital meetings, and knowledge and data on childhood obesity and preventive health work.
“That as many as twelve of the sixteen entered teams finished and submitted well-made concepts for assessment by the jury is really a great success. That it has been such a success is due both to a solid effort from the teams and great commitment from the project partners and also other actors outside the project”, says Anders Hjalmarsson Jordanius, unit manager for Digital Innovation at RISE Mobility and Systems who leads the work with the Grand Challenge.
“It is and has been a privilege to be a technology and analysis platform for the Swelife Grand Challenge”, says Ulf Hertin, Healthcare advisor at SAS Institute. “As everyone knows, health is fresh produce and something that constantly needs to be managed. The best healthcare is the one that never needs to be given, but then we need to extract knowledge and wisdom with the help of advanced analytics and AI of data that exists about us individuals and communities, something that Swelife Hackathon team really showed great innovation and knowledge about.”
Renowned jury
The concept has been assessed by a renowned jury led by Ebba Carbonnier, portfolio manager for nationally scalable solutions for better health at Swelife and main project manager for Ending Childhood Obesity.
“All twelve concepts address the project’s vision in a very good way, but thanks to the jury members’ solid work, we have – based on selection criteria such as value creation, scalability, and possible business – now selected the concepts we see have the greatest potential”, says Ebba Carbonnier.
Winner crowned

On Thursday evening, the winner Family Wellbeing was crowned, which is a concept for an app that helps families to live healthier lives in a simple and fun way. The idea is that families get inspiration in training, food, and mental well-being in a playful way where they collect points and receive rewards.
“Family Wellbeing engages the whole family and has a built-in Call to action that not only informs but motivates and triggers behavior change with the help of gamification and reward. The jury group’s assessment was that they will want to use this app when the concept has been further developed”, Ebba Carbonnier explains.
The Grand Challenge is entering a new phase

The second phase of the Grand Challenge begins now. It runs from May to December 2021 and consists of a lab and test environment. During this period, the selected teams are challenged to develop their concepts into testable solutions and prove their potential to prevent childhood obesity. To help, the teams get access to additional data and building blocks, and the opportunity to test its solution in business-related environments, which will be, for example, municipal operations or in regions.
“On May 11, all teams that participated in the hackathon will receive feedback on their presentations. Then we also reveal the teams in addition to the top 3 who are invited to participate in the second phase of the Grand Challenge. The starting point for the invitation to phase 2 is the assessment of the grants, which includes some wildcards. We will also have an open entrance that enables teams that were not part of the Hacket to join if there is room. More information will be published on swelife.se in May”, says Anders Hjalmarsson Jordanius.
Top 3 Prevention Childhood Obesity Hackathon 2021

- Family Wellbeing: a concept for an app that helps families to live healthier lives in a simple and fun way. The idea is that families get inspiration in exercise, food, and mental well-being in a playful way, and they collect points and get rewards.
- Early Impact: a concept with an app for first-time parents and a web-based platform for health care actors. The concept facilitates healthy choices and dialogue during and between visits within, for example, maternal health care.
- Place 3 – Digital Community Twin: The concept means something completely new. There are often no opportunities to follow up, test, evaluate, and simulate the effects of possible initiatives in, for example, healthcare. Through a so-called digital twin, opportunities are created for municipalities and regions to test and simulate possible efforts in a data-driven manner. Hopefully, the concept can also increase access to key data sources.
Jury Members Prevention Childhood Obesity Hackathon 2021
- Ebba Carbonnier, portfolio manager Scalable solutions, Swelife, chairman of the jury
- Shampa Bari, Director Innovation Ecosystems, Ericsson
- Kenneth Bengtsson, Chairman of several boards and former CEO of ICA, the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise and Swedish Trade
- Simon Rundqvist, chief physician in pediatrics and chairman of the national program area Children and Adolescents’ Health in National Knowledge Management
- Sofie Singbrant Söderberg, Senior Program Lead, Novo Nordisk Foundation
- Ylva Trolle Lagerros, Associate Professor and Chief Physician, Obesity Center, Karolinska Institutet
- Jenny Vinglid, Secretary-General of HOBS
Criteria for selection of top 3
- Relevance to the vision: To what extent does the concept support that the vision of preventing childhood obesity at the start of school is fulfilled?
- Value creation: To what extent does the concept contribute to the needs and wishes of stakeholders in a Swedish environment?
- Innovation: To what extent is the concept innovative? That is, it possesses both originality and potential to create value.
- Scalability: To what extent is the proposed concept possible to 1) introduce in a market, 2) scale up to achieve the desired effect?
- Profitability: To what extent is it possible to create a successful sustainable business for the proposed concept?