Idea Hackathon is a group-work format event where people from different disciplines come together and within a short timeframe find solutions to problems presented by the participants.
At the end of the day, the result is not lots of ready-made solutions, but teams who are willing to commit their time into the particular idea development. The goal of the Idea Hackathon is to provide a collaborative atmosphere to people with different skills so that they could generate novel solutions to problems in various sectors, e.g. education, health care culture, sport, economics or everyday life. Although technology provides lots of challenges, the solutions do not have to be technology-centered.
What can you do at the Idea Hackathon?
– Inspire and be inspired
– Find a team
– Broaden your network
– Discover your entrepreneurial potential
At the beginning of the Idea Hackathon everybody who has an idea how to change something for the better can step up and speak. If you have noticed some bottlenecks and you have some ideas about how things should be better – all you need to do is to share your thoughts with others. Bring forward the problem and explain why it needs to be solved. If you have ideas on how to solve it – talk about it too. Be as brief as possible, but make it meaningful!
In case you are already working on some solution and you need some extra talent into your team, then the Idea Hackathon is a perfect meeting place. Just step out and speak about what do you do and what kind of people and skills are you searching for. Best results are usually achieved in collaboration and there might be someone who is a perfect match to your team!
In case you have lots of thoughts on how to change something for better but you are not ready to stand up and speak in front of the big group, then listen to the others, and you might find someone who inspires you or shares your thoughts. You do not need to have a hackathon experience and it does not matter if you have never been at hackathons. Take it as a chance to broaden your comfort zone – explore and experience something new!
The Idea Hackathon organized by the UT sTARTUp Lab lasts for 5 hours and it differs from 24-hour hackathons by the fact that at the end of the day there are no prototypes of products or services, but there are teams with awesome ideas willing to devote their time on idea validation.
