Transferring BioBoosters Hackathon across the Baltic Sea Region – The Survivor Stories from the First Pilot Round

The BioBoosters project, a collaborative initiative in the Baltic Sea Region, exemplifies how these open innovation processes can propel the circular economy transition in the bioeconomy sector. In this article, we are exploring the lessons learned as shared by the organizers of ValioHackathon, MoelvenHackathon, HolmenHackathon and AlojasHackathon in Autumn 2023.

As explored in the study of Attalah, Nylund, & Brem, 2023, more and more Hackathons have been emerging as tools for open innovation in response to societal issues in recent years. There is a proven impact for open innovation. Hackathons are a practical and effective open innovation method for generating ideas and prototyping the generated ideas as well as for collaborative and cross-sectoral learning. However, there is a wide heterogeneity in what is meant by a Hackathon and whether the open innovation process goes beyond idea generation. Generally, Hackathons connect participants with diverse expertise from different organizations across the innovation ecosystem to achieve results that beyond the scope of the internal R&D capacity of separate organizations. (Attalah, Nylund, & Brem, 2023 275-276.)

What is a BioBoosters Hackathon?

BioBoosters Hackathon has been designed based on the model first piloted in the Bio and circular economy Business Accelerator of Jamk University of Applied Sciences. To summarize, the process starts with the open call for solutions to respond to an innovation challenge presented by a challenge provider company. Thereafter, the challenge provider will select the most interesting teams and ideas among the applicants to join a Hackathon process that is operated under non-disclosure agreements. Challenge provider, teams, and mentors get together for the first time at a Kick-off webinar where the teams present their ideas and get feedback from mentors and challenge provider. They can also get more data on the challenge. Ideas are further developed in dialogue with the mentors and challenge provider’s experts at a digital workspace before the Hackathon Days. The Hackathon Days start with mentoring sessions and networking. Finally, the teams will pitch their final co-operation proposals for the challenge provider and winner(s) are selected to launch co-operation for solving the challenge. (Myhrén, Lehtomäki, & Aalto, 2023.)

BioBoosters Hackathon is characterized by the company initiator – a challenge provider. The challenge provider is involving their staff in the Hackathon as mentors and jury. The challenge provider is expected to commit to take the winning idea further and to start a co-operation for implementing the solution idea in their operations or supporting its commercialization to the market. Apart from the co-operation opportunity for the winner, Hackathon can offer a win-win situation in terms of value creation and capture to the participants. The collective learning can generate also sideways open innovation – ideas and co-operation opportunities arising from the connections between participants other than the challenge provider. (Attalah, Nylund & Brem, 2023, 275-276.) This has been observed in the Hackathons organized by Jamk University of Applied Sciences. (Aalto, Iso-Ahola, Kumpulainen, & Kuula, 2023, 11.)

Boosting circular transition in the bioeconomy sector with Hackathons

In Autumn 2023, a network of bioeconomy innovation hubs supported by the ‘BioBoosters – Boosting Circular Transition’ – project started the international piloting of the business-driven Hackathon model designed at BioBoosters by Jamk. Four BioBoosters Hackathons unfolded across the Baltic Sea Region to launch the series of 18 Hackathons organized to solve circular economy transition challenges of leading bioeconomy companies. As we tackle circularity challenges of leading bioeconomy companies, the Hackathons are expected to launch over 20 business-driven research, development, and innovation collaborations as well as bring together over 500 specialists from business and research to drive the circular economy transition in the bioeconomy sector. (Interreg Baltic Sea Region 2024.)

By the launch of the international pilot in Autumn 2023, the Hackathon model piloted in Jamk University of Applied Sciences had been proven effective with 15 challenge providers. Solutions have been discovered to, for example, valorize side streams, digital transition and finding biobased alternatives. Innovations have been brought to the markets, and both commercial and research partnerships initiated. (BioBoosters by Jamk 2024.)

Now with the launch of the international piloting, it became the time to see if the model was transferable to other countries in the Baltic Sea Region. In addition, we would learn – by doing – how to implement the whole process in a cross-organizational and inter-regional team featuring nine bioeconomy innovation ecosystems and innovation hubs from seven countries. As the piloting proceeds, we hope to discover what value the international co-operation brings to the process and whether the model is transferrable within the Baltic Sea Region. Finally, we hope to learn how the model can boost co-operation across the Baltic Sea Region and bridge the bioeconomy innovation ecosystem actors of the macro-region.

Promising results from first BioBoosters network hackathons

Four hackathons, held between November 27 and December 12, demonstrated the power of collaborative problem-solving and brought together specialists from industry and research to drive the circular transition of the bioeconomy in the Baltic Sea Region. The hackathons attracted a record-number of applications – a total of 57 – from which the challenge provider companies selected the most prominent ideas and teams to join the Hackathon processes. In total, 200 specialists joined the launch webinars to start the calls for solutions and the Hackathons involved 28 solution provider teams, 19 organizations as mentors together with the four leading bioeconomy companies as challenge providers. Results of this open innovation and matchmaking are promising as Valio, Holmen, Moelven and Alojas all made significant progress in tackling their challenges. (BioBoosters 2024.)

Back to the Hot Seat – Lessons and Experiences of the BioBoosters Hackathon Organizers

To get a first glance at the pilot experience, we brought the responsible hackathon organisers from Jamk University of Applied Sciences, Paper Province (Sweden), BioFuel Region (Sweden) and Vidzeme Planning Region (Latvia) to the hot seat again. In a partner meeting organized on January 24-26, 2024, in Tartu, Estonia, we invited on stage this group of organizers responsible for the BioBoosters Hackathon of Autumn 2023 to reflect on what was learned. This focus group interview focused on the following questions:

1. What kind of challenges fit to the BioBoosters Hackathon model?
2. How much can the open innovation process be adapted?
3. What factors affect the international participation?
4. What benefits can the Hackathon bring to regional bioeconomy and the bioeconomy innovation ecosystem?

The questions were selected based on the interests of the BioBoosters project evaluation team as well as to address issues arising from the feedback surveys administered to the Hackathon participants. So, let us put a new chapter to the book called ‘Learning New Things’ and explore what our organizers learned as the pioneers of the BioBoosters Hackathon implemented in the Baltic Sea Region network co-operation.

“Even though, in Latvia, we have quite a lot of experience with the Hackathons, this piloting has been also a new challenge for us, as it is always easy to do things as we know, but to try something new and to re-learn has been interesting.” (Kucina, I. 24.1.2024.)

Challenges suited for the BioBoosters Hackathon

The first question deliberated by the focus group was what kind of challenges fit best to the BioBoosters Hackathon model. The Hackathons implemented in Autumn 2023 featured a range of challenges from leading bioeconomy companies of the organizers’ regions. In Finland, Valio was looking for solutions to tackling the seasonal variation in milk production (BioBoosters by Jamk 2023). In Sweden, the focus was on the forest-bioeconomy. Organised by BioFuel Region in Umeå, HolmenHackathon focused on utilization opportunities for wood ash (BioFuel Region 2023). Moelven was looking for biobased packaging solution for their interior panels in a Hackathon organized by Paper Province in Karlstad (Paper Province 2023). Finally, Vidzeme Planning Region organized Aloja Starkelsen Hackathon to find an improved computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) for a growing food processing factory (Vidzeme Planning region 2023).

It was interesting to observe the differences between challenges that were targeting a very specific product or service, and challenges with a wider scope of potential solution offers. In the marketing and active scouting phase, it is beneficial to have a very clear target group and a clearly defined need in mind. It helps in formulating the message, targeting the message as well as in the direct dialogue with the potential solution providers. The outcomes of the Hackathon are easy to envision and the potential for commercial co-operation between the challenge provider and solution provider is very straightforward. However, the challenges with a more open scope offer a greater opportunity for innovativeness, co-creation and cross-sectoral learning as they connect a wider range of expertise. The solution providers are not direct competitors, and thus more co-operation opportunities arise also between the teams.

“It is important for the organizers to understand the challenge so you can spot the right solution providers. Also, to have a challenge that is actual, on top of mind, our challenge was to move from fossil based to biobased (packaging). An important topic to us and easy to communicate.” (Persson, M. 24.1.2024.)

All in all, BioBoosters Hackathon process supported both types of innovation calls and all challenge provider companies were satisfied with the identified solutions and new partnerships formed at the Hackathon. In both types of calls, the challenge providers also gained a greater understanding of their challenge and the range of available solutions. A successful open innovation process is a learning experience for all participants, and it is important to allow the challenge provider also to react to the arising lessons along the way.

Real need, time, and commitment are the key factors

Based on the experience of the organizers, the most important factors in selecting and defining the challenges would be a real need as well as time and commitment from the challenge provider. This is the baseline that must be in place when starting the process. The challenge provider should have a real motivation to start solving the challenge and to commit resources to continue working on the interesting ideas in partnership with the winning solution provider. They should be able to commit their key staff to the process as specialists and experts in order to ensure a relevant outcome. (Recorded focus group interview 24.1.2024.)

“The most important is that there is a real need behind it. The challenge giver really has a motivation to start solving the challenge and has some kind of resources to continue with the interesting ideas.” (Lehtomäki, A. 24.1.2024.)

Time of key staff is often the most valued resource in any organization. Hence, the ability to commit the time of the key staff is a real measure of the commitment of the challenge provider company. In the challenge definition phase, it is important that key staff are engaged to define what the company is looking for and what they can offer for the winning team. It is important to ensure that the evaluation criteria and the co-operation proposal reflect the real need and priorities of the company. There should also be a clear idea of needed technology readiness level (TRL) and time scope of implementation, i.e. when would we want to see the new process/product/service in use or in the market (Fridman, E. 24.1.2024.) It is a great help for the marketing and active scouting activities, if the key staff of challenge provider can take the time to list key words, examples, and profiles of the potential solution providers that they would see as a co-operation partner in the end of the Hackathon process. This task also makes the co-operation proposal more concrete. (Lehtomäki, A. 24.1.2024.)

Later, the key staff are needed when assessing the applications and selecting teams, and of course to mentor the teams during the Hackathon and finally to select the winners. Of course, the end of the Hackathon is only the beginning of the co-operation journey for the challenge provider and the winning team – so the time spend should not end here.

Process Adapts to the Needs of the Participants

Even though, the BioBoosters Hackathon process had been crafted and perfected with 15 challenges and clients prior to the international operation, starting the piloting in the international network quickly raised a question of how much the process can be adapted. This is of course natural. Even without the differences in cultural and operational environments, each Hackathon organized by Jamk has been a unique venture and we always learn more with each organized Hackathon. The process is flexible to the needs of the participants – and it also builds around the participants.

As our service promise dictates, the process is customized to the needs of the client. The client as the challenge provider defines the main aspects of the process including the target groups, the solution’s evaluation criteria, and the offer for winners. This is the starting point for attracting the teams and mentors to the process. Still, for the organizer, many of the practical details will only be solved after the teams have been selected. To finalize the event programs and arrangements, we need to know our participants – their numbers, ideas, countries, whether they are joining online or onsite, and so forth. Even then, small adjustments are made continuously as the flu season restricts the travelling of teams and mentors, or the challenge provider selects only national teams in an international hackathon. In some cases, the client may wish to introduce additional steps in the innovation process, e.g. to increase interaction with the teams to facilitate decision-making. However, these adjustments are normally mostly visible for the organizer, and for other participants, Hackathon journey should remain a smooth, well-guided ride. (Recorded focus group interview 24.1.2024.)

The process is flexible to the needs of the participants – and it also builds around the participants.

In the Autumn 2023 Hackathons, the most notable example of process variation came from MoelvenHackathon. Once the teams were selected, Paper Province, as the organizer of the MoelvenHackathon, started to get requests for a more closed process. Even with the non-disclosure agreements, some of the large companies in the race informed that they would not stay in the process if the Kick-off presentations and Hackathon Day pitches from the teams would be accessible for the other teams. As the challenge provider was keen to keep these teams onboard, the events were eventually held ‘closed doors’ so that teams would not hear each other’s presentations. Secondly, after the Kick-off some teams were posed additional inquiries to confirm relevance to Moelven’s needs. Unfortunately, the process management was also challenged by unplanned leaves and staff shifts in the organizing team, which caused some delays in the communication with the participants, mentor engagement to the process, and e.g. confirmation of process instructions. Altogether, these factors can be seen to have weakened the open innovation dialogue and could have affected some of the teams’ commitment to the process. While the MoelvenHackathon started with 10 selected teams, in the end only five teams entered the Hackathon Days. (Recorded focus group interview 24.1.2024.)

“We had to consider what do we lose if we go this way and what do we gain. The main purpose that we focused on was to create value for Moelven (our client) and to help them find a solution to their challenge. We based our decision on this consideration. The outcome was successful for our client.” (Persson, M. 24.1.2024).

All in all, MoelvenHackathon was run successfully and resulted in a very promising co-operation between the client and winning team. We can speculate that the process adaptation might have been beneficial to the larger companies with the expense of the startups and SMEs. On hindsight, maybe the made changes started to cumulate and cause delays in the process management. Nevertheless, the service is designed to meet the needs of the client and we should not override those needs. As organizers, we offer our innovation process expertise for our client and encourage them to apply the open innovation approach, but they should be able to make the final decision. It is good to trust the proven process, but also to trust yourself as a leader of the process and not be scared to adapt.

“I think the most important thing is the satisfied customer, and we always want to listen to the customers’ needs. Of course, the framework is there to help us as organizers. The idea is not to be strict about the framework, we have to make some adjustments in every single case. So, the framework is a summary of all those experiences.” (Lehtomäki, A. 24.1.2024.)

“It is important to talk to the challenge provider about the open innovation. The forest industry in general, is not known for their openness… Our challenge provider has shared that they have started to learn about open innovation and daring to have a more open discussion about challenges, and to see that there are companies and solutions out there that they had no idea of. It is important to try to boost them (challenge provider companies) into daring to explore open innovation.” (Fridman, E. 24.1.2024.)

How to attract International Teams to the Hackathons?

International participation to the BioBoosters Hackathons is strengthened through the co-operation of the nine bioeconomy innovation hubs around the Baltic Sea Region. All the partners help to scout for solution providers and mentors to connect to each Hackathon. In practice, the communication campaigns of the open calls are shared in the channels of all partners, and each partner will directly contact at least five potential solution providers from their countries to encourage participation in the call and to collect feedback. Direct feedback from potential teams is important in understanding what kind of teams are likely to apply and what is their motivation to apply. The feedback is used to improve the marketing and communication messages as well as definition of target groups in the future Hackathons. (Recorded focus group interview 24.1.2024.)

Looking at the statistics of Autumn 2023 Hackathons, 33 percent of the applicants were international (from outside the organizing country) and 15 percent of the selected teams were international. Half of the winners were international indicating a high quality of the ideas presented by selected international teams. In the end, the Hackathons in Sweden, MoelvenHackathon and HolmenHackathon, were implemented with national teams while ValioHackathon and AlojasHackathon featured international teams as winners (Fridman, Jonsson & Norberg 2024; Aalto 2023; Kucina 2023; & Hildén 2024).

Hence, we asked our panelists what are the factors that affect the international participation. Many issues were addressed in the discussion including the challenge, needed specialized expertise, and market interests of the companies. It seems that some challenges are more geared for regional partnerships as there is a value of proximity. Regional connections and operations can offer an advantage, for example, in the creation of industrial symbiosis and regional value chains around a side stream from a specific production site. Technology solutions are less influenced by the proximity; however, the knowhow and experience of the operating market does benefit any team. (Recorded focus group interview 24.1.2024.)

Many issues were addressed in the discussion including the challenge, needed specialized expertise, and market interests of the companies.

When talking with the potential solution providers, the motivations to participate or not to participate are of course diverse. Related to the international aspect, many smaller companies may already have in mind some target markets that they would like to explore. If the Hackathon call is a match for their interest, they are often very keen to get involved. However, if they have not considered this particular market, they might not be interested in dividing their attention, or to shift their focus from previous engagements. In any case, they would require more knowledge on the market to make their decision. Looking at larger companies, they often already have operations in the other Baltic Sea Region countries. In these cases, the team participating in the Hackathon will often come from the organizing country. Thus, our statistics do not tell the full story of the impact of the international active scouting as several teams have been first discovered by the international network. (Recorded focus group interview 24.1.2024.)

Attracting research is a whole different discussion. There is variation between countries on how easily researchers can get resources to join these types of open innovation activities and industry dialogue. Regardless of the country, when searching for the research teams, it is also important to understand the real need of the challenge provider and what is the technology readiness level (TRL) they are looking for. Sometimes the ideas of the research teams are simply too far from commercialization to be able to compete against the proposals from companies with a readiness to deliver the service within a shorter timeframe. If the need of the company is more urgent, it should be carefully considered whether to actively involve research teams to the call. At least, the active scouting team should be aware whether to look also for lower TRL level, or to focus on the higher levels. (Recorded focus group interview 24.1.2024.)

The fact is also that some challenges are a better fit for certain partners’ networks. In other words, the theme and industry of the challenge also affect how many well-established connections each of our partners have when starting the active scouting. It is of course always easier to share the call with good contacts than to start searching for new contacts and establishing a dialogue with them. Trust goes a long way in encouraging teams to check out a co-operation offer. Cold calling takes more time and also takes specialized skill. When the topic is not in the direct scope of the partner, the panelists would encourage to connect with industry associations, clusters, or sectoral agencies that can provide more information on the country context and also help to identify good communication channels and potential solution providers.

“Having 50 % international teams in the Hackathon was an eye-opening experience for the national teams, as they understood that the playground for their services is not only in their own market in Latvia.” (Kucina, I. 24.1.2024.)

Spotlight on Bioeconomy

When considering the benefits of the BioBoosters Hackathon model in the context of the regional bioeconomy development, organizers highlighted that it is a very concrete service for the companies and an effective collaboration platform that raises awareness of the bioeconomy sector. Especially in Sweden, the partners have already identified new opportunities to utilize the process for supporting business in green transition also outside the scope of the BioBoosters project. The Hackathons have gained a lot of attention on the national level which also helps to raise the profile of the organizers and to improve their position in the regional bioeconomy ecosystem. (Recorded focus group interview 24.1.2024.)

“As a cluster organization, we work a lot to attract people, startups, and innovations to the region. This is a great tool also for us for that matter. Then we have big member companies that we boost with this service. It creates a lot of communication around important matters and initiates new connections.” (Persson, M. 24.1.2024.)

“This is a very concrete service. It is very clear that this is what we can give you. The companies can understand and relate to the offer. It is hands-on.” (Fridman, E. 24.1.2024.)