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