By Mari Taylor · Medtech Global
AI is becoming a bigger part of how we work, learn and think about the future at Medtech Global.
Over the past few months, our leadership team has put a strong focus on building AI capability across the business. It is not about expecting everyone to suddenly become an AI expert. It is about giving our people the confidence to explore what is possible, understand how these tools can help us, and start thinking differently about the way we work.
For our CEO, Dr Will Reedy, this is an important part of where Medtech is heading.
“As we take Medtech to the next level for our customers and our people, we are accelerating our journey to be AI First and to be a leader in out of hospital care.”
The opportunities with AI are huge, but that can also make it feel a little overwhelming. One of the biggest questions people ask is: where do we start?
For us, the answer has been pretty simple. Have a go.
Our leadership team encouraged people across Medtech to start exploring how AI could help automate everyday tasks, solve problems, make us more productive and ultimately give us more time to focus on what matters most, our customers and the value we can bring to them.
That mindset led to our very first Medtech Global AI Hackathon, organised by our Chief Product and Technology Officer, Jakub Jurkiewicz.
Jakub summed up the thinking behind it well:
“The hackathon came from a simple observation. People here were already curious about AI and quietly experimenting on their own. They didn’t need another strategy deck. They needed time, permission and someone to say ‘go’.
Nearly 50 people came to the drop-in sessions before we had even started. That told us everything we needed to know about their engagement and curiosity. It culminated in two days of people working together in cross-functional teams, solving real problems for our customers and our business.”
If you have never been part of a hackathon before, think of it as an opportunity to step away from the day-to-day for a short period of time and focus on what could be possible.
Over two days, people pitched ideas, formed cross-functional teams with colleagues they might not normally work with, and turned those ideas into working prototypes.
Some ideas explored new capabilities that could one day become part of Medtech Evolution or Medtech ARTIA. Others focused on making their own internal processes simpler, removing repetitive work and giving our teams more time to focus on higher-value activities.
One of the biggest barriers to experimenting with AI is simply finding the time to do it alongside our everyday work. The Hackathon gave people two dedicated days to explore, build, test and learn.
For Jakub, that was one of the most important parts of the experience.
“What I hope people take away from this experience isn’t the prototypes. It’s the belief that they can build something. Give people time and trust and they will surprise you.”
That really came through over the two days.
People who may not have thought of themselves as builders were suddenly creating working solutions. Teams were asking different questions, approaching problems in new ways and seeing just how quickly an idea could move from a conversation to something tangible.
The projects were built around four key pillars, each designed to encourage a slightly different type of thinking.
Ships Monday
The prototype most likely to be put into real use almost immediately. Something working, owned and only a small step away from going live.
Best Customer or Patient Outcome
The idea with the greatest potential to improve the experience of a practice or a patient. Teams needed to show whose problem they were solving, why that problem mattered and what would genuinely change for the people affected.
Biggest Internal Impact
The idea with the greatest potential to improve how Medtech works. That could mean reducing manual work, giving time back to teams, improving processes or helping people focus on more valuable work.
Biggest Leap
The project that travelled the furthest with AI from where the team started. This was about thinking big and exploring ideas that could potentially take our business to another level.
These pillars challenged teams to come up with ideas that were not just innovative, but practical, useful and capable of making a real difference.
Using the four pillars as a guide, Medtech employees pitched their ideas to the wider team and shared the different skills and strengths they would need to bring them to life. Teams of three to five people were then formed, with everyone encouraged to work alongside colleagues from different parts of the business. This cross-functional approach brought together different perspectives, experiences and ways of thinking, giving each team a broader mix of skills to help turn their idea into a working prototype.
What stood out most was not necessarily any one idea.
It was seeing what happened when people from different roles in Medtech came together with a shared problem, dedicated time and permission to experiment.
Will Reedy reflected on that after the Hackathon:
“Our inaugural hackathon is the first step on our journey to being AI First for our customers, our products and our supporting services.
It was amazing to see what our cross-functional teams were able to create in less than two days. What stood out for me was the transformational change in our teams and how quickly they could create new capabilities for our products and our internal processes. It gave us a real view of what our future ways of working, enabled by AI, could look like.”
That is probably the biggest takeaway from the two days.
AI is not only about the technology itself. It is also about building confidence, curiosity and capability within our people. The Hackathon gave teams the opportunity to learn by doing and showed what can happen when people are given the space to experiment.
As Jakub put it:
“AI is going to change how out of hospital care gets delivered, and how the teams delivering it work day to day. We intend to lead that change, not follow it, which means building the capability now, not in 2030.
That’s the future we want for Medtech: to be the most trusted and capable AI-enabled health technology company in Australasia.”
And that connects directly with Medtech’s broader vision.
“Being AI First is critical to delivering on our vision to be the Operating System for out of hospital care in Australia and New Zealand, connecting every care setting, every clinician and every patient around a single intelligent record.”
Will Reedy, CEO, Medtech Global
The Hackathon was only two days, but it felt like the start of something much bigger.
It showed us that innovation does not always start with a huge project or a perfectly formed idea. Sometimes it starts by giving people permission to try something, learn from it and see where it takes them.
Today it might be a prototype. Tomorrow, it could become part of how we work, how we support our customers, or even part of the products we build.
A note on responsible AI use (disclaimer)
As we continue to explore AI across Medtech, protecting the privacy and security of healthcare information remains fundamental. Our teams are expected to use approved tools and follow Medtech’s security, privacy, and data governance requirements when experimenting with AI. Sensitive patient or customer information should not be entered into AI tools unless that use has been specifically approved and appropriately protected.
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