Following the first covid-19 tsunami from March to June 2020, Geneva, Switzerland, and the world were able to experiment with the phygital interface between the physical and online space. For Open Geneva, the stakes were high, as hackathons are generally open innovation events that aim to encourage social interactions to maximise collective intelligence and creativity.
Over the past year, our goal has been to dispel the notion that hackathons cannot be organised online or that if you organise hackathons online, the experience will not be as good as in the physical space. In fact, after several hackathons organised online, we have found that the experience is certainly different, but not necessarily of a lower quality. On the contrary, and particularly during periods of containment, we have found that when the environment is right, not only do people engage, mobilise collective intelligence and co-create effectively online, but some also use the environment as a safe spot. Online hackathons have also taught us that you can now engage people globally, regardless of their background and the level of development of the countries they live in.
As described in the Annual Report, the possibility of organising online hackathons has allowed us to expand our mission to a Very Large Geneva, which includes e.g. Singapore and China. This opportunity is very positive for the promotion of open innovation but generates exciting challenges to be solved in terms of local vs global inclusion. Concretely in this context in Geneva, we face a challenge of linguistic inclusion between French and English speakers. Ensuring that innovators can communicate without barriers is obviously a key issue in open innovation.
Finally, hackathons are often seen as moments of innovation with the aim of generating startups or intrapreneurship. However, we consider that hackathons are also unique moments of learning through collective intelligence, during which participants contribute and receive, in a form of mutual help. In collaboration with the University of Geneva, we have launched a global study to better understand the motivations of hackathon participants.