(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/msjohndw20)

It's about time healthcare received some impactful technical innovation - and the amount of medical hackathons we've covered in recent months goes to show others feel the same. Cleveland Clinic is the latest to announce a medical hackathon to seize this important trend. 

The event, to be held at the Global Center for Health Innovation, will take place September 26th  - 27th, 2015 and will be co-hosted by University Hospitals, MetroHealth Systems, and life sciences collaborative BioEnterprise. Cleveland Clinic's hackathon will focus on turning the vast amount of data now collected from healthcare providers and their patients; into practical solutions to commonly-faced challenges. 

“A hackathon brings a diverse group of extremely bright people together, aligning them behind a common cause,” Cleveland Clinic Associate CIO Dr. William Morris told MedCity News. “In this case, we hope to find solutions to challenges we face in healthcare.” 

Teams will have 24 hours to create their solutions before presenting in front of a panel of judges. Participants are encouraged to look at how information is collected, processed, and used to improve care, reduce costs, and enhance the overall experience for everyone. 

As mentioned earlier, medical and health-related hackathons are on the rise. Earlier this month we reported on 'Hack Aging' and the winning team who created an innovative new automated phone service through which the elderly can record their health information for later analysis. At the start of this month, we also reported on 'AtHack' which focused on building assistive technology for the disabled. 

New technologies such as wearables are fostering innovation - whilst others are opening doors thanks to new information they provide to researchers. 'REshape Hacking Health' is one hackathon we spoke about at the end of last month which asked participants to seize information provided by new frameworks such as Apple’s Health and Researchkit, Google’s StudyKit, IBM Watson, and Philips’ Digital Health Suite to advance healthcare. 

Head over to this link to learn more about the Cleveland Health Hackathon. 

Why do you think healthcare is a particularly ripe topic for hackathons? Let us know in the comments.