Engineering Challenge Series
Forge 1
Thirty teams. One week. Build a working software prototype for preventive healthcare in the UAE.
- Kickoff
- Sept 19
- Deadline
- Oct 3
- Duration
- 2 Weeks
- Team size
- 1 to 3
- Format
- Online
The Challenge
What You Build
Advancing Preventive Healthcare in the UAE by 2031.
Pictured: The official signing ceremony between Mubadala Bio (the life sciences arm of Mubadala Investment Company) and L-Nutra establishing a $36.5M joint venture in Abu Dhabi to pioneer longevity medicine, medical nutrition therapies, and preventive healthcare across the region.
Guided by the National Strategy for Wellbeing 2031, Forge 1 challenges engineering teams to design software technologies that target chronic disease risk factors before they develop.
The life sciences subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Company (managing $300B+ in global assets), dedicated to advancing integrated biopharma, local medical manufacturing, and longevity medicine in the UAE.
A US nutritech leader founded out of the USC Longevity Institute (led by Dr. Valter Longo), pioneering science-driven nutrition therapies and fasting-mimicking protocols to target chronic metabolic diseases.
National Health Metrics
The UAE Preventive Health Landscape
59.1% of UAE adults do not engage in sufficient physical activity
22.4% of UAE adults are living with obesity
25.9% of UAE adults have elevated blood pressure
12.5% of UAE adults have elevated blood glucose levels
Pick a problem from one of these areas
- Early disease detection and preventive screening
- AI-powered disease risk prediction models
- Asymptomatic condition screening
- Physical activity, nutrition, and healthy lifestyle promotion
- Obesity prevention and metabolic health tracking
- Personalized health recommendations and lifestyle guidance
- Remote patient monitoring using connected devices and wearables
- Chronic disease prevention and proactive management
- Wearable sensor integration for vital sign tracking
- Mental health support and early intervention
- Stress, sleep, and recovery management
- Behavioral micro-nudges for healthy habits
- Medication adherence and preventive care management
- Population health analytics and public health decision support
- Community health education and awareness
- Accessible and inclusive preventive healthcare
It can be any kind of software
- Web applications
- Mobile applications
- AI-powered health tools and assistants
- Digital health and wellness platforms
- Wearable or IoT health solutions
- Health analytics and reporting platforms
- Community health and awareness platforms
- Software solutions supported by custom hardware
- Any other technology solution that advances preventive healthcare
Deliverables
What You Submit
Submit a Google Drive folder link in the form containing your project document, pitch & demonstration video, and Pitch Deck Presentation.
- 01A Written Project BriefA document detailing the preventive healthcare challenge identified, why it matters in the UAE, your proposed solution, a dedicated Technical Implementation section (tech stack, architecture, component interaction), and a direct link to your live, interactive software prototype (a working website or app that judges can directly open, test, and play with: not a code repository). Write it as if explaining to an investor with no technical knowledge.
- 02A Project Pitch & Demonstration VideoA screen recording, maximum 7 minutes, uploaded separately in the same Google Drive folder. Your video must be a pitch: not simply a demonstration of your prototype. Present in order: (1) The Problem, (2) The UAE Context, (3) The Solution, (4) The Technology, (5) The Demonstration, (6) The Impact.
- 03A Pitch Deck PresentationYour presentation slides, exported as a PDF or PowerPoint and added to the same folder: problem, UAE context, solution, technical architecture, and impact. There is no live judging, so the deck has to stand on its own.
- 1.Locked files. Make sure your Google Drive folder and all files inside are set to "anyone with the link can view." If the judges can't open your work, you will get a zero.
- 2.Going over time. Your video must be under seven minutes. Keep your pitch concise and structured.
- 3.Broken prototype. Your software prototype has to actually work. This is worth the most points, so test it before you submit.
- 4.Complicated words. Write your document as if explaining to a beginner with no technical background. If judges can't understand what you mean, they can't give you points.
- 5.Missing links or files. Double-check that your Google Drive folder contains your Written Project Brief document (which includes your live interactive website link inside it), your Pitch Deck Presentation, and your Pitch & Demonstration Video.
- 6.Skipping technical details. Don't just explain your idea: explain how you built it. Clearly list your programming languages, frameworks, APIs, databases, and core software components in both your document and pitch video. If judges can't see how your system works under the hood, you will lose points.
Evaluation
How You're Scored
This is the full rubric out of 50 points. Use it as a checklist while you build.
- Clearly defines a real preventive healthcare challenge3
- Explains why the problem is significant, particularly within the UAE healthcare landscape3
- Demonstrates understanding of the users affected2
- The proposed solution directly addresses the identified problem2
- Presents a creative or novel approach to solving the problem3
- Features are well thought out and appropriate for the intended users3
- Demonstrates logical system design and user experience considerations2
- Makes effective use of modern computing technologies where appropriate2
- Prototype is functional and demonstrates core features4
- Technical implementation is stable and free from major issues during demonstration2
- The prototype validates the solution rather than acting solely as a concept2
- Demonstrates genuine software engineering effort2
- Team clearly demonstrates a clear understanding of the technologies used3
- Technically feasible using current or near-future technologies2
- Clear value for patients, healthcare professionals, or health operations2
- Could reasonably scale within one or more UAE healthcare institutions or community settings4
- The team discusses realistic limitations or future improvements4
- Presentation is well-organized and within the allotted time2
- Verbal delivery is confident, clear, and persuasive2
- The pitch deck clearly presents the problem, solution, and impact1
Judging philosophy
Forge is a builder's competition. Communication matters, but technical execution and real-world applicability carry greater weight.
Timeline
The Dates
You have seven days to build and submit your project.
- Sept 19, 2026Kickoff & Challenge launch. The brief goes live at the start of the 2-week sprint.
- Sept 19–Oct 32-Week Build Sprint. Research, design, prototype, and ask questions in the Forge group.
- Oct 3, 2026Submission Deadline at 11:59 PM. Google Drive folder link in the form.
- Oct 4–9Judging Period. Evaluating every submission.
- October 2026Winners Announced across MedHack's website, LinkedIn and Instagram.
Worked Example
An Example Submission
This is an example submission
Everything below is made up. Don't build this one. It just shows what a finished submission looks like. Yours is one Drive folder with three things in it: a Google Doc, a Pitch Deck Presentation, and a video.
1 · The Drive folder
Shared so anyone with the link can view. It holds your three files.
- Preventive Care DocumentGoogle Doc
- Pitch & Demo.mp4Video · 6 min
- Pitch Deck PresentationSlides
2 · What goes inside the Google Doc
Explain the problem and your solution, and paste your prototype link at the top.
Undiagnosed Metabolic Risk & Physical Inactivity in Young UAE Adults
Forge 1 | Team HealthPulse
According to the UAE Health Survey, 25.9% of adults have high blood pressure and 12.5% have elevated glucose, yet young adults rarely undergo routine screenings until symptoms manifest.
Preventive screening happens too late. Metabolic risk factors accumulate silently for years during young adulthood due to high sedentary behavior (59.1% inactive).
High ambient temperatures encourage indoor desk lifestyles and reliance on delivery apps, making metabolic risk shift heavily toward younger demographics who do not regularly visit clinics.
Young adults who miss early lifestyle intervention windows, and the healthcare system, which faces escalating chronic care costs in later decades.
You cannot force young adults to manually log meals or visit labs every month. Interventions must fit passively into their existing daily mobile routines.
A lightweight mobile app connected to wearable sensors that calculates a daily 'Metabolic Health Index', sending conversational micro-nudges directly via WhatsApp in English and Arabic.
A functional mobile MVP that ingests PPG wearable streams, runs an ONNX ML risk trend model, and sends localized micro-nudges directly to a patient's phone.
Consumer optical wearables require periodic cuff calibration and serve as early screening tools rather than diagnostic medical hardware.
3 · The Pitch Deck Presentation
Slides (PDF or PowerPoint) that present the problem, your solution, and the impact. There is no live judging, so the deck has to explain itself.
4 · The Project Pitch & Demonstration Video
A screen recording, maximum 7 minutes. Your video must be a pitch: not simply a demonstration of your prototype. Present your project in order: (1) The Problem, (2) The UAE Context, (3) The Solution, (4) The Technology & Architecture, (5) Prototype Demonstration, (6) Expected Impact. Upload the video file straight into the same folder.
The Advice
Spend most of your time on the problem
Thirty teams submit. One wins. The other twenty-nine still ship a working prototype in two weeks. Nobody who submits loses.
Questions & submission
Questions and help
Ask everything in the Forge community. Answers are posted there so everyone can see them.