Hackathon
Handbook
So, you want to organize a
hackathon?
This handbook contains practical info and tips for
organizations interested in organizing a hackathon.
Handbook is structured chronologically - what are the
key points you should consider before, during and
after hackathon.
Handbook draws from Crazy Town’s experience of
implementing hackathons across Finland and Europe.
Crazy Town Oy 2023
What is a hackathon? Who are involved? What can be the
outcomes?
A hackathon is an innovation - Challenge-owner(s)
event where people with - Participants - Service
various skills and - Mentors - Product
backgrounds come together - Co-organizers and - Concept
to collaborate and create partners - Insight and knowledge
innovative solutions for a - Idea-stage startup
specific challenge or problem - Initiative
in a limited time period - Joint-project
(typically 24 - 48 hours).
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Challenge-owner
A hackathon should have a real-life challenge- P U BL I C S E CT O R
owner to set the direction.
IN D U ST RY
Hackathons are excellent tool for exploring
new opportunities and needs in themes that CHALLENGE-
challenge-owners find relevant. Ideally, the OWNER
challenge-owner has interest and capacity to
utilize the results of the hackathon.
Challenge-owner can be the hackathon
SO CI E T Y
organizer, or an external actor, such as a
company, network, public sector organization.
Alternatively, a wicked societal problemcan be N E TW O R K / A S SO CI ATI O N
seen as a challenge.
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Participants STUD ENTS
Hackathon participants are responsible for UNIV ERSI TY
PUBLIC
creating the solutions during the event. RESEARC HERS
ORGA NIZ ATI ONS
& NGOs
Typically, they can be teams of students;
university researchers and staff members;
NGOs and public organizations; private
individuals; existing startups, early-stage PARTICIPANTS
businesses, established companies, or mix of
any of these.
INDIVIDUALS
AND CI TIZ ENS
Decision to focus on certain types of
participants will directly effect on what level of
support they might need, as well as what
STARTUP S & EARLY- ESTABL ISHED
outcomes and impact you can expect from the
STAG E BUSINESSES COMPANIES
hackathon.
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Mentors
Role of the mentors in a hackathon is to help
participants to find focus, give advice and
perspective; connect participants with their
networks, people and resources; and be a person
with whom participants can test ideas.
An organizer can involve various mentors from
different backgrounds to build a pool of experts
within relevant theme.
For example, as a university organizing a hackathon,
you can bring your own staff members, as well as
external experts, such as entrepreneurs, ecosystem
players, representatives from the partners / co-
organizers or challenge-owners onboard. You can
also use your alumni as mentors.
Mentors of a hackathon that Crazy Town for Albanian startup
ecosystem on behalf of EU for Innovation project.
Crazy Town Oy 2023
BEFORE HACKATHON
Key points to consider before hackathon
• Formulate a challenge that balances well between broad / specific.
Remember to make sure it is meaningful and inspiring.
• Use hackathons as a catalyst for further cooperation with desired
organizations and stakeholders. Have a plan and resources for how
results can be used.
• Recruit strategically the right challenge-owners co-organizers,
partners, participants and mentors.
• Cover key roles: hands-on organization, stakeholder communication
and facilitation.
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FIND A GOOD BALANCE FOR YOUR
CHALLENGE
A BROAD CHALLENGE
e.g. What is the future of structural engineering?
VS.
A SPECIFIC CHALLENGE
e.g. How to improve effectiveness of our process by 30%?
A challenge that is too narrowly defined tends to limit the imagination and
interest of participants.
A good hackathon challenge should be
• Relevant: Finding solutions to the challenge addresses the strategy
€
of the challenge-owner.
• Actionable: Challenge-owner has resoures and possibility to
implement / make use of new solutions.
• Meaningful: Challenge is interesting for participants from different
backgrounds, as well as for the organizer.
• Think of hackathon challenge as a resource magnet!
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Example: A meaningful
challenge inspires and
brings together talent
Hack the Crisis Albania hackathon looked
for solutions to help Albania cope with
covid-19 crisis to save communities,
businesses and lives
Within 1,5 weeks, the event gathered over
200 participants, 30 partner organizations
and over 40 mentors who contributed their
time and expertise.
Crazy Town Oy 2023
Manage expectations
It's important for organizers and challenge-owners to understand that hackathons are not a
guarantee for creating fully developed solutions, but rather a way to generate innovative ideas
and foster creativity.
Hackathons should be understood as a catalyst for new beginnings that require support.
Oftentimes the biggest failure of hackathons is not the event themselves, but the fact there is no
effort or plan in leveraging the results further.
Have a clear plan and strategy for further development, as well as the necessary resources and
support to follow through. This includes identifying potential partners, investors, or stakeholders
who can help bring the ideas to fruition, as well as providing mentorship, feedback, and ongoing
support to the teams.
Ultimately, the success of a hackathon should be measured not just by the quality of the ideas
generated, but by the tangible impact they have on society, business, or any other relevant domain.
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HACKATHONS INSPIRE
PHOTO: EU for Innovation project
HACKATHONS
SHOWCASE TALENT
PHOTO: EU for Innovation project
HACKATHONS TEACH ENTREPRENEURIAL
SKILLS AND DESIGN THINKING
PHOTO: EU for Innovation project
Recruit partners, mentors and
participants strategically
By organizing a hackathon, you can make a strong
statement or announcement about a topic that you
find relevant.
Therefore, think carefully:
- With whom do you want to strengthen cooperation?
- Who are enthusiastic and commited about creating
impact with you?
Crazy Town Oy 2023
Cover key roles in the
organizing team
Hands-on organizer / producer: Takes care of practical
arrangements and ensures delivery
Stakeholder communicator: Ensures that challenge-owners,
partners, co-organizers and mentors are up to date
Facilitator: Makes sure the event goes smoothly
Remember that different organizations can participate in the
organizing team.
Crazy Town Oy 2023
DURING HACKATHON
PHOTO: EU for Innovation project
Key points to consider during hackathon
• Structure of the hackathon agenda according to
”double diamond” process. 24 - 48 hours is generally
a good hackathon length
• You can also organize an online hackathon, but
remember to keep tools straightforward.
• Create show around pitches and storytelling at the
end. Also be clear about how the solutions will be
presented and evaluated.
Crazy Town Oy 2023
Use double diamond for hackathon process
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PROBLEM DEFINITION SOLUTION
Love the
Prototyping,
problem, not
build & learn
the solution
Ideal length of a hackathon is around 24-48 hours
Double diamond teaches design thinking
• PROBLEM: Start the hackathon by focusing participants’ efforts on
”love the problem, not the solution”. Don’t let them fall in love with
their idea! Help them to understand what is the real need /
opportunity they are solving, whose need it is and how it impacts the
user / customer.
• DEFINITION: After this, shift participant’s attention to ideating early-
stage ideas and alternative approaches to solution. They test their
ideas with mentors, prioritize and finally they choose the best
potential approach, and start creating a prototype.
• SOLUTION: You should end hackathon by allowing teams to present
the demo / prototype solution with a short pitch. Give them training
on how to deliver a basic pitch.
Crazy Town Oy 2023
From why . . . . . . to how
(Problem awareness) (Solution awareness)
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PROBLEM DEFINITION SOLUTION
Love the
Prototyping,
problem, not
build & learn
the solution
e.g. DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3
If you are running an online hackathon, keep
the tools as simple as possible.
Zoom for live sessions Slack for participant interaction
Optional: Mentor matchmaking, online whiteboard (Mural, Mira), etc.
We do not recommend hybrid hackathons, as you end up organizing
two separate events with double the effort.
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Make participation visible in online hackathons
CREATE SHOW AROUND PRESENTING &
EVALUATING SOLUTIONS
PHOTO: EU for Innovation project
Criteria we have used
in our hackathons
NOVELTY: How innovative the solution is?
ACTIONABILITY: How realistically the
solution can be implemented / piloted in
practice? How sustainable the business /
operational model is?
IMPACT: How clear benefits the solution has
for the challenge?
Remember that in addition to a short 3-5
min pitch, you can include Q&A segment as
well as ask teams to include additional
material that will be used in evaluation.
AFTER HACKATHON
Some post-hackathon points to consider
• Share and celebrate the results: After the hackathon, share the results with the participants, sponsors, and
broader community. Celebrate the achievements of the teams and highlight any innovative solutions that were
created. This can help to create a sense of community and encourage future participation.
• Offer support for top-performing teams and don’t forget the importance of follow-up: Give teams have a
homebase, where to continue development after the hackathon. You can connect them with your business
development services / accelerator, or link them with services offered ecosystem partners / co-organizers.
Remember that if you have the right kind of partners onboard with you as mentors, partners and co-organizers,
they can offer also support for teams.
• Plan in advance with the challenge-owner how they will be involved in co-development, piloting and
implementation of the solutions. For participants, an opportunity to test and deploy their ideas with the
challenge-owners can be one of the biggest benefits.
• Be clear about who owns the intellectual property created at the hackathon. It is a typical rule that
hackathon participants usually own their ideas, but it's important to note that ideas alone cannot be protected.
If a team doesn't want to continue developing their solution, the challenge-owner or organizer may have the
option to do so with another partner. Make sure everyone understands this from the beginning.
Crazy Town Oy 2023
We are happy to organize your
hackathon or innovation hands-on www.crazytown.
Crazy Town Oy 2023
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