Develop innovative concepts and scale up ideas quickly with this intensive creative thinking marathon.

Hackathons, broadly speaking, are events where people get together to solve a problem in a limited amount of time. Within tech, this usually means computer programmers and software developers collaborating to create functioning software over a few days. They are often competitions where several teams compete to create prototypes that improve on an existing product or system. Additionally, hackathons give participants the chance to network, meet potential partners to kickstart R&D projects and/or scale-up concepts.

Following the TCBL Thinkathon challenge: “How to map European manufacturing capacities for sustainable near-shoring, small batch production and short lead times?” we organised a Hackathon to implement some of the results. Over 48 hours, two teams of software developers, UX designers and business strategists programmed a short-runs mapping platform prototype.

Furthermore, for SmartX we organised an IoT hackathon with software and hardware engineers, business developers and designers to raise the potential of smart textiles among European startups and SMEs. Ideation sessions supported by experienced coaches and lab partners helped to develop project plans for their funding phase. As a result, SmartX gained a deeper understanding of the value chain setup and market needs for successful innovation.