About the DIY Life Sciences category

How are you using DIY and open source solutions to improve care? Can we bring projects to learn from each other, demonstrate how they work, what is possible in the field? Can we identify all stakeholders involved in Open Source and DIY solutions to health- and social care, with their capacities and obstacles?

Marie is inviting hackers to break her heart. She is on a mission to ensure that life-critical devices, like her own pacemaker, are technically safe. Her work draws our attention to the Importance of building a social contract for the software that runs in our bodies.

Like the son of John behind the Diabetes Pump, Anthony has Diabetes type 1. He is working to make insulin more affordable through networked collaboration. His project OpenInsulin is on its way to decentralising the science, engineering and production of a vital medical treatment.

Olivier went from industrial company to work being passionate about the humanitarian field. His team is using open hardware to build empowering technology: echOpen, the affordable ‘smartphone’ for ultrasound scanning (echo-stethoscopes).

You have a motor impairment and want to make or customise your own assistive devices. Because you can not afford commercial alternatives, or they may just do not work well for you. Rune and Alexander are dreaming up WeHandU at makerspace medical researchers can practically cater to patients by enlisting tech communities for faster prototyping.

Everywhere we look we are seeing a lot of radical experimentation. Which raises some questions …

As part of our preparations for the Openvillage Festival we are working with under-the-radar projects. By October 19-21 we aim to:

  • collect experiences of open source and DIY solutions for health and social care
  • validate them through open discussion, both online and offline.
  • combine everything we learn into the design, exhibition and prototype next generation of community-driven care services.

Ways in which you can contribute:

  1. Explore the stories others have shared below and leave thoughtful comments.
  2. Tell us about your own care-related experiences and projects. Where are some things you have tried to do in the past, what are you doing now.
  3. Build a proposal for a demo session / exhibition at Openvillage. You will deliver a practical, hands-on showcase of your project. What support do you need to make it happen?

GOOD FOR YOU: When you post you will get a ticket to Openvillage: Meet the OpenCarers.

How to enhance awareness, diagnosis and disease management of patients suffering from Diabetes?
How to improve the access to medicines in remote areas from supply chain management to alternative payment solutions?
How to support decision-makers in getting a better usage of available health data?
https://challenges.vivatechnology.com/en/challenges/sanofi-in-africa?lang=en