The Neomedic Challenger Series: A Three-year Evolution from Campus Challenges to Student-led HealthTech Startups at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences

Abstract This report describes the evolution of the Neomedic Challenger Series, a sequence of five student-led HealthTech innovation events conducted at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences between 2022 and 2025. The series was developed to address limited opportunities within medical education for translating clinical observations and early-stage ideas into practical innovation projects. Across three years, the initiative expanded from a campus-level problem-solving contest involving 35 participants and 8 teams to a national, multi-stage competition involving 384 participants and 78 teams, with finalist teams presenting prototypes to industry representatives. The series provides a descriptive example of how extracurricular HealthTech innovation activities can be organized and progressively expanded within a medical university. Because standardized educational assessments and longitudinal tracking of teams were not conducted, the model’s educational effectiveness, reproducibility, scalability, and contribution to startup formation remain to be established.