The team “Visit Village” has won the main prize at the hackathon dedicated to rural and health tourism, held in collaboration with the Innovation Entrepreneurship Center Technopolis, the Innovation Fund of Montenegro, the Science and Technology Park, and ICT Cortex, organized by the Ministry of Health under the theme “Discovering the Potential of Health Tourism in Montenegro.”

The University of Singidunum team secured second place, while third place was shared between the WellBeing and ZdravCom teams.

Speaking about the significance of organizing this event for the Ministry of Health, which, for the first time in Montenegro, was held in this format with a focus on health tourism, Luka Đukanović, the General Director of the Directorate for Projects (IPA), Innovation, and Health Tourism at the Ministry of Health, emphasized that the hackathon provided an opportunity to hear and develop innovative ideas to improve the promotion of Montenegro as an attractive destination for the development of health tourism.

“Montenegro truly abounds in natural potentials for the development of health tourism, which have not been fully utilized thus far. One of the key reasons for this is the insufficient collaboration between public administration, the economy, and the scientific research community. As we aim to develop high-level health tourism, we must strengthen this collaboration. The Ministry of Health will continue to work on developing ideas in the field of health tourism and creating a better business environment to motivate the economy to invest more in this area. Of course, the role of the scientific research community is essential for providing scientific confirmation of these potentials and creating innovative services in this field.“

LUKA ĐUKANOVIĆ

Expressing the expectation that this event will encourage everyone to make greater efforts and effectively utilize what Montenegro has to offer, Đukanović thanked the Ministry of Health’s partners in organizing the hackathon: ICT Cortex, Technopolis, the UNDP Office in Podgorica, the Innovation Fund, and the Science and Technology Park.

Mladen Kandić, HR Manager for Education, stated that the hackathon’s theme was to create innovative software solutions to improve the promotion of services in the field of health tourism, with the goal of positioning Montenegro as an attractive tourist destination in the field of health tourism by identifying organizations providing services in this area, as well as natural resources that can be utilized.

He mentioned that 12 teams participated in the hackathon, and the pre-selection jury, based on predetermined criteria, selected five teams that entered the final phase of the competition for a prize fund of 10,000 euros, provided by the Ministry of Health through the project “Strengthening the Health System of Montenegro” in collaboration with UNDP.