At the beginning of this month we wrapped up OSHWA’s first ever Open Healthware Conference. For two days we got to hear from incredible creators within the Open Healthware community, see demos of devices meant to better the medical world, and meet new folks from the community.
It was incredible! We can’t say thank you enough but we can try! From NSF, to speakers, to in person and online attendees - thank you, thank you, thank you!! It’s not every day that you get to be in a room full of people dreaming of a new world full of more accessible medical and health related devices and actually building it! It is incredibly special to be a part of and we would not be able to do it without the general interest and support that you all provide us.
Our goal for this year was to have 200 people attend. Between virtual and in person tickets, we had over 250+ people grab tickets. It was a pity to be in the middle of a severe flood warning, with attendees and even a speaker having their flight cancelled but it made getting to know each other so much easier and special. While sharing food and chatting with attendees, many shared that this conference was different from every other Health related conference they’d been to and how excited they were to be a part of it and we feel the same way!
At many points, attendees and speakers stopped us to share how inspired and grateful they were to meet community members they’d been searching for their entire careers and finally able to have the opportunity to get to know each other, share ideas, and even make plans to collaborate on future projects. This is why we do what we do.
We can’t wait for next year and if you weren’t able to attend, don’t worry! Our wonderful team has uploaded the livestreams for Day 1 and Day 2 of the conference. Check out the recordings of each talk on our Youtube channel and to keep in touch with the Open Healthware Community, join us on our new Open Healthware discord channel!
Thank you from the OSHWA Team!
P.S Wrangling everyone for this group picture was harder than it looks!
