WHAT IS A HACKATHON?
Hackathon is an innovative way of including creative individuals into finding and solving the challenges of your company. Our hackathons offer an answer not only to innovation challenges that companies today are facing, but also to their increasing HR challenges. More and more companies are aware that proactive new employees are essential for successful operations in the radically changing business environment. Because young people, or Gen-Z as some may call them, are mostly present and feel quite comfortable in the virtual environment, we have created the Online hackathon next to our traditional (on-site) hackathon.
On-site hackathon: a live event where 50 – 100 external or/and internal competitors are put in teams to create and pitch (present) a new solution to the corporate challenge in only 36 – 72 hours.
Online hackathon: an online event, with no limited numbered of participants and with a timeline that suits the corporation (e.g. could be 2 days or 1 month). The competitors are put in teams or compete individually to create and pitch (present) a new solution to the corporate challenge.
Hackathon Life with Climate change
MJU, ARSO, Water directorate
26-27 September
31 March – ongoing
Intergenerational Hackathon Simbioza
Date: TBA
#EUvsVirus Virtual Pan-European Hackathon & Matchathon
24 April – 1 June 2020
Virtual IT hackathon with MojeDelo.com
April 2020
8 – 9 February 2020
Petrol hackathon
Virtual Hackathon Mojedelo with company Petrol
AMZS
A series of international hackathons with the whole company
December 2018
Why we do them?
A hackathon boosts the energy, raises adrenaline and increase creativity of everyone involved. Numerous competitors, who like challenges and being challenged, gather to ideate and create solutions they wish to see in the world. This results in tremendous energy and positive vibe. And trust us – it is contagious!
Can you imagine day 1 of the hackathon, when you don’t know a lot about the sponsor (company giving the challenge) and you probably aren’t familiar with the people on your team, and then you rock the stage with a new – potentially profitable – idea on only the second day? It is a hectic and stressful time that makes the participants move the boundaries of possible and come up with great ideas, analysis and business propositions. It is also a great team building.
This is definitely one of the reasons why we organize and run hackathons, however, there is also a deeper meaning to it. While startups and students like the drive and a chance to solve creative challenges, the story is a bit different for corporates. What we don’t want is to make them lose time and money. Hackathons have to bring added value to the innovation process they run internally. It is way to explore, sketch and test new ideas. Furthermore, the corporate gets a detailed analysis and recommendations for further steps from all competing teams. And further steps sure are important. Hackathons are usually just a beginning of the innovation journey.
Why would you do a hackathon
Get numerous ideas or visions of potential future products outside of the existing line
Access top talent for internship or job offering
Evaluation of internal resources in order to build an internal mentorship network and upgrade company’s innovation processes
Open up to the outside world of young innovators & get even more attention for scouting talents (talent positive PR)
Benefits of a hackathon
The nature of hacking challenges promotes an out-of-the-box approach to workflow. Competitive environment, when followed by an attractive prize, helps bring the best solutions in a short period of time. For large organizations in particular, hackathons can be adapted to greatly accelerate the process of digital transformation. They are less about designing new products and more about “hacking” away those old processes and ways of working.
An internal hackathon can uncover latent talent within your organization. The event allows your employees to get out of their daily role and flex their creative muscles. Hosting a hackathon is also recommended if your company needs a different perspective on a problem that they have struggled to solve with traditional approaches.
Good teams usually consist of team members with diverse backgrounds which enables them to challenge each other and come up with new, innovative ideas. For that, they also need good communications skills. So, it is recommended to open applications for the hackathon to everyone (external and internal) and then form diverse teams to give them the best chance.
When hackathons are not only held within the company, but also open to the interested public, they turn into a promotional initiative. This can be used to source new tech talents, recruit programmers, engineers, graphic designers, and other sought-after profiles! Hackathons are the ultimate interview. They give you an opportunity to work directly with potential employees and see who is a good cultural fit.
Employee retention can be another beneficial aspect of hackathons held within a company. Stagnation and a focus on repetitive tasks only are a major reason for employees leaving the company. When presented with an opportunity to broaden their skill set, however, they are inclined to stay in the same company as they are given more than just the pay check. They’re given an opportunity to grow.
It is simple; hackathons are great PR and generate easy but great stories to tell. They also help promote products or services of your company to a broader audience.
Some interesting numbers
Testimonials
Inspiring, seamless and transformative would be a three word summary of my experience with Transformation Lighthouse. We hooked up with Urška and her team in order to introduce a new online recruitment tool to our clients. They provided not only knowledge and expertise but also a true understanding of partnership. Transformation Lighthouse went went beyond the usual call of duty in facilitating value creation for both the product and my team. Their approach is innately driven and as such highly infectious. Be prepared to be pushed and challenged for that is where any tangible outcome begins.
Maruša Grah, former Head of Strategic Marketing and MojeDelo.com Private Clients Service Division, Styria digital marketplaces, d.o.o.
In Petrol, innovation is well integrated in our daily life. We don’t just follow the trends but we rather create our own. Because of the wide spectre of innovation and products Petrol deals with, it is often very challenging to find the right people for the right position. We have already worked with Urška Jež in the past and that is why we again decided to collaborate with her and her Transformation Lighthouse team. We were searching for new UX/UI designers for our app and for this, we tried the new innovative approach they offer for employee/talent search – the online hackathon. Transformation Lighthouse did not disappoint. With their professional approach, domain knowledge, understanding of the employment market challenges, along with their vast base of young people, they ensured that we gathered a greater pool of talents than ever before with the very first online hackathon in Slovenia. We also received a number of brilliant design suggestions for our app. Now, it is on us to put the app out there and to the users.
Miha Valentinčič, Director Innovative Business Models and Digitalization at Petrol
At Iskratel, we are aware of the importance of leadership and its influence on the organisation culture and business excellence. For us, leadership development means more than just developing leaders. We set up a project called !N leadership development, because we want to be !N on the leadership skills and see further and beyond. In order to develop those leadership competences, we needed help from people that understand and show the meaning of leadership development, have all the necessary skills and experience, and can share this knowledge with others. Urška, the CEO at Transformation Lighthouse, is a person that really cares about the positive changes and progress. She is a fountain of energy and passion. She delivers more than it’s expected of her. Through our cooperation, Urška gave us a voice and taught us the language of innovation, which gave us understanding of strength and opportunity of the invisible and unpredictable especially in these uncertain times. Fear is the fuel for courage, thinking about new ideas fuels our minds. Innovation connects us, great business partners in this project inspire us to do more. Urska thank you for being my fuel and my inspiration.
Jelica L. Lajovic, Director of Human Resources & Corporate Communications at Iskratel