Title: The feasibility of hackathons as co-creation approaches to facilitating innovation in local public services using the example of Võru County, Estonia

I pillar -
Wider context. Prerequisites for co-creation and innovation of public services

II pillar - How hackathon is feasible for co-creation of services in public arena in rural areas of Estonia?

Trigger of the article: Rather than focus on the features of hackathons that have been lost amidst their mainstreaming, we might instead pay close attention what remained of the original concept that proved so appealing to organisers and attendees, which might indicate qualities that could be replicated to other contexts (Taylor & Clarke, 2018)

Original configuration of hackathon based on literature ⭐ -occured in adopted hack ❌ didn't occur in adopted hack

Bringing people together

Meet face-to-face ⭐

people with different professional backgrounds work collaboratively ⭐

designed to utilize diverse mindsets

people who are not normally collocated ⭐

building networks

creating new social connections ⭐

harness external knowledge ⭐

cross-functional and cross-cultural collaboration ⭐

collaboration space ⭐

bottom-up and externally collaborative ideation

forming a community around a cause ⭐

goals for participation, such as networking ⭐

building personal relationships ⭐

inclusive

the community that develops as people experiment with each other

bring together people with diverse expertise and experience ⭐

Intensive event

for a defined period

participants work in small teams over short period of time ⭐

Competition-based

participants work in small teams ⭐

people in small groups produce a working software prototype in a limited amount of time ❓

intensive, collocated collaboration

Intensive development event

intensive event

The work hours are relatively focused and interruption-free ⭐

Prizes ⭐

Participatory design approach

Creativity-intensive process stages ⭐

problem-solving, designing, prototyping, tackling of the challenge ⭐

ideate, design, rapidly prototype, test

Beginning of the innovation process ⭐

tackle complex challenges and create new business opportunities ❓

test-bed for ‘crazy’ ideas,

early stages of innovation, to generate new ideas, develop concepts or test solutions

user-centric approach ⭐

problem-focused approach ⭐

creating new concepts

new business opportunities :

participatory design activity

They provide the opportunity to run a project, assess its feasibility, and uncover potential pitfalls with minimal risk to daily operations

proofs-of concept, not finished products

Product innovation ❌

output-oriented

it is a mistake to view hackathons as a platform for building a concrete product rather than concepts

Informal and collaborative learning

bringing time-starved people together around a shared objective ⭐

share lessons with others ⭐

encouragement to fail

provide learning opportunities ⭐

develop and exercise new technical and leadership skills in a low-risk environment ⭐

practice agility, iteration and scoping ⭐

learning a new skill ⭐

advancing a technical work

goals for participation, such as learning ⭐

understanding others ⭐

Learning and sharing ⭐

Failure is valuable ⭐

Venue

Availability of all necessary resources ⭐

Flexible seating, WiFi and electricity are required

Whiteboards and windows ⭐

Enthusiasm and atmosphere

just having fun

Participants work on something they are passionate about ⭐

fosters a start-up or intrapreneurial spirit

Autonomy on self-organization

self-governing ⭐

allowed to self-organise into groups ⭐

Interactive and agile process

Participant incluisivity

highly engaging

time-limited events ⭐

Physical venue ⭐

virtual venue ❌

high-energy events

broadly enjoyed participating ⭐

playful sense of adventure and excitement ⭐

Food ⭐

Schedule

working through the night ❌

require a process to ensure the expected results are obtained in such a short time ⭐

opening speeches and icebreakers, followed by the stages of the design processes (with lunch and coffee breaks, as well as occasional energizing activities), and concludes with the submission and presentation of prototypes to the judges and audience. The final act of the hackathon is the awards ceremony ⭐

the event generated energy and passion ⭐

Social, technical and spatial infrastructures

Mentoring

Adapted configuration of hackathon based on experiments (empirical data) 🚩 - uniq elements in adopted hack

Bringing people together

building networks

building partnership

trust

strong attention on co-creation 🚩

partnership

balancing power hierarchy 🚩

participatory design approach

problem-focused

intensive event

Informal learning

Enthusiasm

Schedule

Venue

require a process to ensure the expected results are obtained in such a short time

structured mentoring 🚩

toolkit/ canvases

focused and interruption-free

Competition-based

empowerment

early stage of innovation

I-II (III) phase in doublediamond model: research (discover), insight define), ideation (develop)

understanding of what is right thing to-do

user-centric

pitching, team-formation, designing-process, final pitching for jury, award ceremony. Coffe-breaks, networking sessions, meals, accommodation

schoolhouses as a underused resource for community development. Added value? 🚩

local and healthy food 🚩

Availability of all necessary equipment and recourses

Environment outside the building (nature)

social media channels for engag

social-media channel for engaging community outside the event

shared strong emotions

using design-thinking approaches

personal development

listening and undrestanding other point of views

learning new skills: design-thinking, teamwork etc

learning from eachother

social-media wave after the event

proud to be part of the community of VM 🚩

alumni of VM

just having fun

event generating energy and passion

participants (community leadesrs) work on themes they are passionate of. Often it is the topic of their heart

new/better solution for local life 🚩

time for focus to one project and get work done. Quick progress 🚩

learning from mentors, professional consultations

strong preparation for the next steps in development process

prizes

participants work in small teams

Autonomy on self-organization

voluntary participation

allowed to self-organise into teams

rule for team: at least one member from each sector (public, private, community) 🚩

self-governing

accommodation is organized 🚩

'Owner' of the hackathon and his aim

MANY COMPANIES face the challenge of developing new products ❌

Hackathons originated from technology companies as internal events for engineers and computer scientists to collaborate, brainstorm, and build innovative solutions to challenging, company-wide problems in a concentrated period of time ❌

university-wide hackathons are organized as annual events for undergraduate and graduate engineering students to showcase their knowledge, gain familiarity with new technologies, and connect with faculty, laboratories, and resources on campus ❌

Despite originating in technology communities, hackathons have now been widely adopted by a broad range of organisations ⭐

Scientific communities are also jumping on the hackathon bandwagon

Owner of the hackathon and his aim

Public sector: joint organization of the local municipalities in Võru county -> responsible for balanced and sustainbel development of the region
🚩

Empowering co-creation in local level: We together bild the future of Võrumaa

To find better and sustainable solution for covering citizens need in rural areas. Empowering and engagement of community recourses

provide tool for co-creation of services in public arena together with all stakeholders

raise motivation to keep on going with your topic


too ready ideas do not experience success

it is is easy to reach community members and harder to reach entrepreneurs and public sector oficials

reaching the audience

promoption in media and networks ⭐

an event within the organization ❌

reaching the audience via networks, using social capital 🚩

entry to post-hackathon phase 🚩

mentoring and incubation progarms

sources of funding

implementing themes to municipality or county level development plans

similarities of adopted hackathon and living lab approach ⭐ -occured in adopted hack; ❌ - didn't occure in adopted hack; ❓ - not clear

Key Principles

Value (Providing a superior value for customers and users ⭐

Influence ( view users as active, competent partners and domain experts. Their involvement and influence in innovation and development processes shaping society is essential ⭐

Sustainability can be defined as development that meets the need of the present without compromising the ability for future generations to meet their needs ⭐

Openness
( need to open up their innovation processes since innovation stakeholders have become more mobile, venture capital more abundant, and knowledge more widely dispersed across different types of organisations) ⭐

Realism ( innovation activities should be carried out in a realistic, natural, real-life setting. This is important, since people cannot experience anything independent of the experience they get from being embodied in the world ⭐

Key actions

Co-creation ⭐

Exploration ⭐

Experimentation ❌

Evaluation ❌

User-involvement

User as actor ⭐

Empowerment ⭐

Stakeholders involvement ⭐

learning from failures

Ecosystem

Territorial ⭐

Infrastructure ⭐

Management ⭐

Partnership (4-helix) ❓

Research ❓

Approach ❓

Systematic review (literature)

Desk research on the example of Võru county

Dissemination and guidelines: prerequisites, process, structure, resource needs and influencing factors of the implementation of hackathon
for co-creation of
services on the example of Estonian rural areas

Published article: 'Co-creation of social services on the example of social hackathon: The case of Estonia'

RQ: What are the core components/elements from original hackathons to take over to adopted configuration of the hackathon?
Which are additional elements necessary for hackathon to be suitable tool for public service innovation?

service dominant logic, public value