At the height of AgriVenture Finland 2025, the BioBoosters partners gathered to Saarijärvi to celebrate the success of 18 international hackathons implemented as a team effort connecting nine organisations in seven countries. Hackathons were delivered for challenge provider companies from the bioeconomy sectors to launch innovation co-operation with solution providers. Hackathons exceeded expectations, and ambitious key performance indicators, in terms of international participation, experienced value of participants, started co-operations, and ability to attract teams. After this intensive peer supported learning phase and analysis of the data, feedback and results, the BioBoosters partners are now shifting their full attention to integrating the lessons learned in their organisation and as a long-term network operation model.
The partners are representing nine bioeconomy innovation hubs around the Baltic Sea Region with varying backgrounds – cluster organisations, science and business parks, academia-based, regional development organisations and NGOs. For the partners, the hackathon can be opted as a service offer, project activity, or adjusted open innovation process to meet different regional or national development needs as well as needs of international co-operation initiatives. As the initiator of the business-driven hackathon model piloted in the BioBoosters project (Interreg BSR, 2023-2025), Jamk University of Applied Sciences has already taken many steps in integrating the hackathon expertise originating from a single regional development project as organisational capacity both in RDI and service provision. (Aalto, 2024.) The lessons have been compiled and analysed in this article for the benefit of the partnership – and any other innovation hub looking to initiate similar hackathon activities.
The brief, but eventful, history of the BioBoosters by Jamk
At Jamk University of Applied Sciences, the integration of the hackathon model has been progressing for several years, but where did it all start? The hackathon model featured in the BioBoosters project was originally developed in a project co-funded by the European regional development fund where the aim was to establish a bioeconomy business accelerator to operate in conjunction with the Institute of Bioeconomy and Bioeconomy Campus in Tarvaala, Saarijärvi. The accelerator provided different innovation services including the hackathons. (Aalto et al., 2023.)
Hackathons soon became a flagship service for the accelerator with 15 hackathons organised in 2021-2023 by the accelerators’ team. Team included around 5-7 specialists with different roles and duties – hackathon process manager, open innovation process specialist, host and promoter, technical support and systems specialist, and social media content creator. Accelerator had its own facilities in the centre of Saarijärvi suited for hybrid event organisation. All team members were involved in hackathon organisation with a common process flow with clearly assigned tasks. Workflow was documented with detailed notes and organiser’s checklist transferring lessons learned from previous hackathons to new ones.
When the original project ended in 2023, bioeconomy business accelerator had taken-off as an affiliated brand of Jamk University of Applied – and is operated under the Institute of Bioeconomy as planned in the original project. In 2023, the ‘BioBoosters by Jamk’ bioeconomy business accelerator had already established a commercial version of the hackathon with two hackathons delivered as service sales in 2022. Also, the hackathon operations were set to continue in the scope of BioBoosters (18 hackathons) and Finnish Future Farm (3 hackathons) projects. The service portfolio of BioBoosters by Jamk accelerator was still growing with the introduction of an international startup accelerator programme targeting agritech sector. Team capacity was maintained at a level of 5-7 specialists although the cost structure was leaner after moving the operations to the Bioeconomy campus facilities.
Furthermore, the accelerator team has tested and adopted adaptations of the hackathon process for stakeholder dialogue, student hackathons and ideation events. One of these adaptations, an innovation camp, was piloted as commercial service in 2023. The innovation camp process is oriented to ideation in a multi-stakeholder dialogue. The outcomes of the innovation camp can be, for example, policy recommendations and project plans. An innovation camp is focusing on a sustainability challenge affecting a bioeconomy sector, for example farming or forestry. While the challenges in an innovation camp have rather a sectoral scope, there is still a challenge provider that operates in the jury capacity and is taking the winning ideas further. Moreover, student hackathons can be integrated to relevant e.g. life-long learning courses as a one-day process promoting design thinking and team working skills. Meanwhile a 90-minute hackathon was piloted with Lidl at the Impact Day Sustainability festival in Tallinn (Iso-Ahola et al., 2025).
Now in summer of 2025, BioBoosters by Jamk has a track-record of 35 hackathons – organised or co-organised. In the coming seasons (autumn / spring), there are approximately three hackathons (or adapted services) in the pipeline for autumn 2025, spring 2026 and autumn 2026. RDI funding for hackathons is coming from a wider range of projects; the Institute of Bioeconomy has adopted the hackathon service as a tool for RDI projects to enhance impact and stakeholder engagement. Project portfolio is larger; however, an individual project might only implement 1-3 hackathons compared to 10 or 18 seen in hackathon focused projects. Service sales are continued with at least three hackathons in 2025. To summarise, the annual scope of hackathon (co-)organisation in the recent four-year period (2022-2025) has been 9-12 hackathons per year – and there is a good prospect to maintain that level.
Continuous development in response to continuous change
What is behind the successful transition from a single project-based service to a flagship service of Institute of Bioeconomy at Jamk University of Applied Sciences? BioBoosters by Jamk team identifies strong management support, strategic alignment, consistent process management and development, strong communication as well as natural engagement opportunities for the staff as strengths that have helped to make this transition possible.
All in all, the BioBoosters hackathon, and its adaptations, offers a tool to implement the strategy and regional development role of Jamk University of Applied Sciences. We are mandated to build competences and competitiveness of the regional companies in line with the smart specialisation strategies – and a hackathon provides a business-driven process to carry out this role. As a large project organisation, facilitation of open innovation, co-creation dialogue and launching innovation partnerships is in the core of our activities and competences. We have a large pool of mentors from both RDI and teaching staff that are well-positioned to guide teams in their innovation journey. In short, the organisational culture is well-adjusted to hackathon organisation – the role of organisers and mentors (and sometimes teams) comes naturally for us.
The transition from project-based hackathons to long-term implementation was done in conjunction of the transitioning the whole accelerator operation in Jamk. Hence, the process received a more steering and dialogue from management level. The launch of the affiliated brand was supported on the level of whole Jamk UAS organisation. The ‘BioBoosters by Jamk’ brand is giving the operations a recognition beyond the project scope and offers a premises for operating on the level of whole Jamk UAS with School of Technology, School of Business, School of Professional Teacher Education and School of Health and Social Studies. Still, integration has also had its challenges.
The opportunities and challenges of agile operations at a large organisation
As a very agile unit operating in the grey area between service sales and R&D projects and with ‘larger-than-size’ marketing operations, accelerator activities are sometimes not a perfect fit to the systems and process flows of a large organisation. In Jamk, there are around 250 projects with their specific communication needs and, of course, a plethora of degree programmes to market. Hence, on the organisational level, the communication and marketing processes and channels have been designed primarily for the needs of degree programmes and R&D projects with lesser emphasis on service sales promotion and also lower emphasis of startups as a target group.
Another challenge is crossing the silos between the units and focus areas. Jamk University of Applied Sciences is operated as several units and institutes that have a high autonomy level and specialised areas of expertise. This setup offers fruitful opportunities of cross-sectoral knowledge transfer and multidisciplinary expertise exchange needed in most hackathons. However, it is a challenging starting point for integration of a new service to the existing portfolio on an organisational level, even with the shared interest to sell and organise hackathons.
At the moment, integration within the School of Technology, first and foremost in the Institute of Bioeconomy, is proceeding well. There are several projects up-taking and funding the hackathon model. It is easy to connect with relevant mentors from ICT, logistics, robotics, smart agriculture etc. Co-operation works and connections are available. Managing the widening project portfolio is requiring training and initiation of new organisers in collaboration with the accelerator’s core team. New organisers are initiated with support of a more experienced colleague.
Managing expansion while retaining quality service associated with the brand
While the flow of hackathons has been generally quite consistent, it is becoming more unpredictable due to the timeframe of the service sales. Also, since many hackathons are now organised in projects that are not focused on hackathons or innovation services only, the project teams might not have a full process expertise or prior organising experience. This increasingly complex resource management puzzle means that there are growing risks of quality variation of service delivery as well as growing demand on the accelerator team to train and initiate new colleagues. To ensure the demand on the small core team of the accelerator is not overwhelming, it is necessary to have dedicated time resources and clear roles when initiating colleagues to start as hackathon organisers or on how to adapt the process for their project needs. As the demand is high on a small number of specialists, staff changes become risky as tacit process knowhow cannot be effectively transferred. When considering even wider Jamk UAS level integration of the hackathon model in R&D activities and service sales, the risks of quality variation and lacking organising skills need our full attention.
While the accelerator’s operations (including hackathon operations) are diversifying, it has become more difficult to maintain a clear division of roles and consistent internal communication. Nevertheless, the proceeding integration can provide a long-term stability for accelerator’s operation as long as we maintain a quality service for the clients and a talented forward-looking core team.
Change has been continuous in the brief history of the BioBoosters by Jamk accelerator but a growth-trend and startup spirit are persisting.
Takeaways to BioBoosters partners
Change has been continuous in the brief history of the BioBoosters by Jamk accelerator, but a growth-trend and startup spirit are persisting. As the BioBoosters partners continue their journey as hackathon organisers, the Jamk team hopes to share some takeaways.
First of all, commit to systematic quality management from the start. While navigating the long-term integration with a more diversifying funding, adaptations and co-operators, ensuring consistent participant experience and delivering the value propositions is central. Systematic quality management with feedback and evaluation along with consistent development efforts are the backbone needed for your organising team.
Secondly, share the work and the results. Engage management by setting targets in line with the strategic and operational priorities and reporting measurable and relevant indicators. Engage colleagues to build organisational commitment and culture beyond the organising team. Engage partners to make more impactful events. Share the success and narrate the story of hackathons in your organisation.
Finally, do not be afraid to adapt and to be creative. The process can be adapted to different needs of target groups – and funding sources. It can also be scaled to available resources. Just make sure you learn from each adaptation to keep upgrading the service provision.
Starting out as a hackathon organiser requires some practice and commitment. It is in many ways equivalent to a startup company. First, investment is needed to develop the service offer and resources needed for delivery. Next, it is time to invest in piloting to get testimonies from the early adopters and to build the capacity of the team to deliver the service. What we have learned in BioBoosters project is that having co-organisers with an established process, brand, workflow and network channels speeds and facilitates this initial investment phase to a great extent. Nevertheless, taking the time from the start to document the process, capturing good practices, building resources, engaging management and colleagues, and setting targets and measuring results will be central to reach long-term success in your organisation.