Lithuanian companies have found a tool that generates ideas
If employees lack new ideas or creativity, and traditional team-building methods no longer work, it's worth trying to take part in or organise a hackathon yourself, according to the experience of Lithuanian companies.
A hackathon is a marathon of several hours or days of generating and prototyping business ideas, usually related to IT. It involves not only programmers, but also other professionals – project managers, designers, analysts. In Lithuania, it is common for hackathons to take place during technology festivals, but there are also a growing number of cases where companies, not necessarily from the IT sector, initiate both open and internal hackathons themselves.
The telecommunications company Telia Lietuva regularly uses the principle of a hackathon or business idea competition within the company among employees. In June, it organised an open IoT hackathon, inviting people to create ideas using the IoT 101 device developed by Telia Company.
“This universal device with real-time data on location, movement and temperature was one of the main tools of the idea competition,” says Mantas Goštautas, Head of Business Development at Telia Lithuania.
Nearly 60 people took part in the hackathon organised together with Vilnius Tech Park, and the event teams were advised by Telia Lietuvos employees and representatives of the start-up ecosystem, and 10 innovative business ideas were selected.
“The benefit is the contact with the innovation community and the great feedback on the IoT 101 product. An important invisible benefit is that the employees of our company who participated in the event got involved in the hackathon themselves, which shows how seemingly impossible things can be done in a focused way, in a short period of time, with a good team,” says Mr Goštautas.
The hackathon is also a way to invite external experts to co-innovate, says the CEO. Telia Lietuva intends to hold them again in the future, he said.
Mr Goštautas advises companies that want to participate in or organise a hackathon to set clear objectives. “Doing a hackathon just because it’s trendy, I don’t know if it’s worth it,” he says.
Fear for workers
Some aspects of hackathons may cause anxiety for companies, but this should be overshadowed by the benefits of these events, emphasises Laura Duksaitė-Iškauskienė, Managing Partner of consultancy UAB Master Class Lietuva, who contributes to the mentoring of hackathons.
“It’s quite common to hear companies say: ‘We are worried that employees who take part in a hackathon might be seen by someone else and offered a new job. Or they will just develop such a good idea that they will go out and develop a start-up themselves,” says Ms Duksaitė-Iškauskienė.
However, this concern for companies should be overshadowed by the benefits of the hackathon. First of all, according to the speaker, a hackathon provides an opportunity to strengthen the team in a natural, unstaged way.
Read more about hackathons in Verslo žinios
