Run hackathons that end in decisions, not demos.
Your hackathon designed with us from end to end, or a programme across many: the brief, the judging, the communications and the funding path after demo day.
Most Corporate Hackathons Are Theatre.
Energy peaks, winners are announced, and nothing ships. When hackathons aim for the announcement rather than real outcomes, people eventually recognise them as events that consume budget and goodwill while producing nothing the organisation can fund or build on. The difference is design: a clear objective, a judging protocol that holds, and a path for the winners agreed before the event begins.
What Most Hackathons Do
- Pick a generic theme like “AI” or “innovation”
- Let popularity votes choose the winners
- Attract engineers, and few others
- Give the winners a trophy, then nothing
- Count attendance as success
What a Programme Delivers
- A theme anchored to a real business priority, with a sponsor
- Expert panels scoring eight weighted criteria
- Cross-functional teams, with non-technical innovators welcomed
- A funded path for winning concepts, agreed before kick-off
- Nine success criteria, tracked for 12 to 18 months
From a leadership standpoint, hackathons are expensive, serious business events that must be planned accordingly.
Innovation Mode
One Event, or a Programme.
Both run on the hackathon method in Innovation Mode: the five phases, the design decisions, the judging protocol and the measurement framework set out in the free Corporate Hackathon Guide.
The Masterclass, Live
Your hackathon, designed with us from end to end, on the same method: a discovery call and questionnaire, a plan for your event refined with you, a calibration session with your judging panel, and a debrief after the event.
Optional: an independent chair of judges. Also included: the full Hackathon Masterclass at launch, and three months of Ainna.ai Pro for theme generation, idea screening and submission scoring.
For comparison, a bespoke hackathon plan from an innovation consultancy typically costs €20,000 or more.
Programmes at Scale
For organisations that run hackathons as a capability, not a one-off event: multi-event programmes and recurring challenges, multi-region rollouts across divisions, train-the-trainer for internal programme managers, custom rubric and theme design, judging and chairing at your events, and a permanent operating model for your innovation function.
Engagements typically start at €25,000.
Where We Work With Your Team.
A corporate hackathon runs in five phases, from the decision to host to the funding of the winners. How to Plan and Run a Corporate Hackathon sets out each one; this is where the advisor comes in.
The Plan
A 30-minute discovery call, then a structured questionnaire on strategy, audience, format, judging, prizes and IP. From it, a plan for your hackathon, delivered as a working document and refined with you: theme and sponsor, format and eligibility, minimum deliverable, judging rubric and the funding pathway for the winners.
The Call to Innovate
Your team announces and promotes the event on the plan, with the communications library and the pre-read deck from the Masterclass: at least two weeks, four to six for a company-wide event.
The Contest
Your team runs the contest, one to five days, on the run-of-show in the plan. For programmes at scale, we can also support judging and chairing at your events.
The Judging
A 60–90 minute session with your judging panel before the event, so every judge applies the rubric the same way. Optionally, an independent chair of judges: we run the calibration, uphold the protocol and chair the deliberation. Your leaders decide; we guarantee the process.
The Follow-Through
A review after the event covering the outcomes, how to track them over 12 to 18 months with the nine criteria in Measuring Hackathon Success, and what to change next time.
Led by the Author of the Method.
Every engagement is led personally by the person who wrote the hackathon method in Innovation Mode.
For Organisations That Want Hackathons to Count.
Innovation Leaders & Chief Innovation Officers
You own the innovation agenda. A hackathon designed around it feeds your pipeline with validated opportunities, not just energy.
HR, L&D & Culture Leaders
You want collaboration and an experimentation mindset. A well-run hackathon builds both, with outcomes the business can see.
Heads of Engineering, Product & R&D
You want ideas that reach the roadmap. The plan gives winning concepts a sponsor and a funded path before kick-off.
Universities, Accelerators & Public Bodies
You run challenges for students, startups or citizens. The same method works for public and open-innovation hackathons.
Questions from Prospective Clients
What does a corporate hackathon programme include?
How much does it cost?
How far ahead should we start?
Can the hackathon be remote or hybrid?
Who owns the ideas and the intellectual property?
Can you judge or chair our hackathon?
What happens after demo day?
Can we run it ourselves instead?
Ready for a Hackathon That Ends in Decisions?
Fill in a brief form and receive a proposal matched to your event, your audience and your goals.
Request a Proposal →One event or a programme · Remote, hybrid or in person · Includes the Hackathon Masterclass at launch
Building more than events? Corporate Innovation Advisory rebuilds the innovation function around them, in 8 weeks.
Prefer to run it yourself? The Hackathon Masterclass gives your team the method and every template.
Field notes on this subject
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Design Sprints can generate remarkable output for your company, such as a backlog of impactful ideas (also with IP opportunities), functional prototypes, learnings, and key insights from customers along with real business opportunities. At the same time, they can lead to significant cultural improvements towards the ‘innovation mode’. But …