Battle of great ideas at the RACGP Hackathon

Take a real-world general practice challenge, create six diverse teams, and give them three days to find a viable and innovative solution: here’s how the RACGP Hackathon brought GPs together for the ultimate GP thinktank event.
 
The 2025 RACGP Hackathon saw more than 100 attendees, including 42 GPs, coming together for a weekend of problem-solving, creativity and collaboration. 
 
The intensive three-day event was held at the Microsoft Reactor in Sydney, on Gadigal Country, where selected participants shared expertise, developed connections and produced practical and innovative prototypes while refining their pitch and presentation skills.
 
RACGP Specific Interests Digital Health Chair Dr Sean Stevens said clinicians were taken on a journey from having an idea to having a product or solution.
 
‘We support them in understanding how to build a business, develop the technology, get funding, get the product to market and how to build that whole ecosystem around the founder,’ he told newsGP.
 
Divided into six teams – each comprising of three or four GPs, a tech expert and an entrepreneur – groups tackled the Hackathon’s challenge of finding ‘cohesive solutions that effectively bridge the gaps between clinical excellence, practice efficiency and business sustainability’.
 
Leaning on each other’s experience and expertise, the teams developed, fine-tuned and pitched their solutions to a panel of judges, comprising RACGP President Dr Michael Wright, Vice President Dr Ramya Raman, HealthEngine founder Dr Marcus Tan, and Health Direct chief medical officer Dr Nirvana Luckraj.
 
The ‘G’Day Health’ team took out the win, with a grand prize comprising $10,000 cash, three places in the CICALab Incubator Program, and access to a three-month Microsoft Mentoring Program.
 
But you didn’t have to take home a prize to feel like a winner.
 
Solomon Islands-based GP Dr Lazarus Tavichkai told newsGP he felt privileged to have been selected to take part in the Hackathon.

Solomon Islands-based GP Dr Lazarus Tavichkai says attending the Hackathon was a privilege. (Image: Jake Pinskier)
 
‘For me, it’s not about the prize. It’s about the interaction, the information sharing and the problem solving. That will be the biggest thing that I will take home with me,’ Dr Tavichkai said on the first day of the event.
 
‘I can only describe this as a truly amazing experience because you get to hear knowledge that you don’t have, and you can share within a group dynamic, and when you listen, you uncover things.
 
‘It has been excellent listening to everyone, listening to the calibre of the participants and listening to the sponsors.’
 
Dr Tavichkai said he was motivated to apply for a Hackathon spot after seeing how well the event aligned with his approach to running a clinic and his interest in the business side of general practice. And he knows he will take knowledge from the experience back home to the Solomon Islands.
 
Dr Stevens agrees the Hackathon will have a lasting impact on attendees.
 
‘There are people that can help you solve the problems that we all face in general practice. Coming together and networking at these events is part of it,’ he said.
 
‘Because it’s not just what you do in the three days here – it’s what you do afterwards. It’s when you confront another problem in six months, 12 months or even three years, and you think, “I remember
speaking to someone about this – let’s reconnect”.’ 

RACGP President Dr Michael Wright visiting one of the six teams, which comprised of GPs, a tech expert and an entrepreneur. (Image: Jake Pinskier)
 
RACGP president Dr Michael Wright noted the enthusiasm amongst the Hackathon attendees.
 
‘It was fantastic and refreshing to leave a weekend conference with a big smile and a renewed sense of optimism about the value of GPs and our potential in improving and leading our future health system,’ he told newsGP at the event.
 
RACGP CEO Georgina van de Water also welcomed the support from industry leaders in technology and healthcare at the event.

‘The commitment of everyone who is here, including the sponsors and participants, is heartening. It’s an honour to have the support of all of those people,’ she told newsGP.
 
Major sponsors supporting the event included Healthengine, Cubiko, Avant Mutual, Best Practice Software, Innowell and Bupa.  
 
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