On Wednesday, December 3rd, Future4Care hosted the second edition of Hack4Hope, the only hackathon in Europe entirely dedicated to cancers affecting children, adolescents, and young adults.
To organize this unique event, Imagine for Margo was once again supported by its loyal partners: PSCC, Fondation S, Sanofi, and LifeArc. This year, BMS and Sanofi provided additional support, allowing for increased prizes and boosting the attractiveness of the competition.
In total, 24 companies and foundations applied, nearly half of them from abroad.
An outstanding selection
Among these applications, 10 projects were chosen for their high level of innovation by a committee of experts including parent representatives, clinicians, researchers, pharmaceutical industry professionals, and start-up actors. These finalists took part in the final phase of the competition on December 3rd.
To ensure that the patient voice remained central to the decisions, our president Patricia Blanc was accompanied by Yannick Tanguy, head of research, as well as Mathilde and Mickaël, two parents engaged in our association. Together, they interviewed the candidates during individual meetings in the morning, then participated in the final vote alongside other pediatric oncology experts.
Hack4Hope : Five awarded projects
After deliberations, the public, parent representatives, and the jury chose to highlight five particularly promising projects in the fields of innovative therapies and new technologies:
1st Jury Prize: Kindling Bio (United Kingdom)
A biotech developing a completely new approach: prompting the tumor to produce microbial proteins to help the immune system recognize it more easily.
2nd Jury Prize: MS Insight (France)
A medtech behind Gemini, a powerful algorithm capable of identifying rare genetic anomalies that predispose children to cancer.
3rd Jury Prize: Hippoxis (France)
A biotech developing an innovative immunotherapy aimed at strengthening the anti-tumor response in pediatric osteosarcomas.
Public Prize: Lucid Genomics (Germany)
A company offering an algorithm that analyzes the entire genome of patients to detect variations responsible for diseases and pediatric cancers.
Families’ Prize: My Little Journey (United Kingdom)
A company that created an app designed to support families with essential information about the care pathway, appointment reminders, accessible explanations… The goal is clear: reduce mental load and anxiety.
This prize was awarded unanimously by the parent representatives.
This second edition of Hack4Hope confirms the importance of building bridges between associations, researchers, clinicians, pharmaceutical companies, and innovative businesses to accelerate the emergence of concrete solutions against cancers affecting children, adolescents, and young adults.
Thanks to the commitment of our partners and the mobilization of talented individuals from France and across Europe, new therapeutic, technological, and family-support approaches are emerging.
Imagine for Margo is proud to support these ambitious and essential initiatives through a new and necessary strategic alliance to achieve our goal: creating a world where no child has cancer.