Skip to content

Hackathons and design sprints

Running corporate hackathons, design sprints and innovation events that produce decisions.

5 articles
Planning a Corporate Hackathon? 50+ Ideas That Actually Work
Hackathons and design sprints

Planning a Corporate Hackathon? 50+ Ideas That Actually Work

Most hackathon idea lists are useless - "build a chatbot" helps no one. These 50+ themes are framed around real business problems, organized by innovation type, and designed to attract diverse teams - not just developers. Plus: how AI has made hackathons more inclusive than ever.

· 16 min read
Should We Still Organize Corporate Hackathons in the AI Era?
Hackathons and design sprints

Should We Still Organize Corporate Hackathons in the AI Era?

AI can generate ideas in seconds - so are corporate hackathons still relevant? More than ever. But the old annual model is broken. Here's why innovation leaders should run hackathons more frequently, how AI tools make them radically more inclusive, and what it takes to turn hackathon concepts into real products.

· 12 min read
Running a Design Sprint: How To Ensure Success
Hackathons and design sprints

Running a Design Sprint: How To Ensure Success

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 …

· 8 min read
Pages of The Hackathon Manifest, a fill-in form for planning a corporate hackathon
Hackathons and design sprints

7 Steps to a Successful Corporate Hackathon

Corporate Hackathons provide a great way to inspire teams and promote creativity, collaboration, and innovative thinking. Learn how to run corporate hackathons that deliver real results. A battle-tested 7-step framework from someone who's been a hackathon participant, winner, organizer, and sponsor at various tech startups, Microsoft and Accenture.

· 12 min read
The Survival Guide for Hackathon Teams as a slide deck, its cover showing a winner's medal and the words How to win the Hackathon
Hackathons and design sprints

How to Win a Hackathon: A Practical Guide for Participants

Winning a hackathon takes much more than a great idea. You also need the right team, working practices, mentality, and the right strategy. Consider the following practical hints to … hack the next hackathon!

· 8 min read
Work with us · Corporate hackathon programmes

Run hackathons that end in decisions, not demos.

A four-phase advisor engagement around one event, or a programme across many: the brief, the judging, the communications and the funding path after demo day.

Request a proposal About the hackathon programmes
Free downloads

Free to download and share.

Continue
ToolkitHackathon ToolkitGuideCorporate Hackathon GuideGuideHackathon Planning TemplateGuideMeasuring Hackathon SuccessGuideDesign Sprint Guide

Guides, templates and programmes on Hackathons and design sprints.

Free membership

Get the field notes first.

The monthly Innovation Mode Briefing, early access to new releases, and member discounts on the Toolkit and Ainna.ai. Join 10,000+ innovation leaders.

Join free