Mobility hackathon: transform mobility with a hackathon

Are you looking for a powerful way to explore and develop mobility solutions of the future? Then consider a Mobility Hackathon! In this article, we introduce you to the world of mobility hackathons and how these events stimulate innovation, collaboration, and transformation within the mobility sector. We have organized quite a few hackathons around the topic of ‘mobility’. Read on and discover how you can participate in a mobility hackathon or organize one yourself and make a valuable contribution to the future of mobility.

What is a mobility hackathon?

A mobility hackathon is a dynamic event where multidisciplinary teams come together to devise and build innovative solutions for mobility challenges. It brings together professionals, tech experts, developers, designers, and other stakeholders to work collaboratively on creating new ideas, prototypes, and services that can transform mobility. Mobility hackathons are a breeding ground for creativity, collaboration, and disruptive thinking within the mobility sector.

Why organize a mobility hackathon?

Stimulate innovation:
A mobility hackathon is a powerful tool to stimulate innovation. By bringing together talented professionals, developers, designers, and experts, you create an environment where new ideas emerge and innovative mobility solutions are developed. Or work can be done on existing mobility challenges. The intense and competitive atmosphere of a hackathon encourages participants to think outside the box and generate creative solutions.

Facilitate collaboration and networking:
A mobility hackathon offers participants the opportunity to collaborate with professionals from different disciplines and organizations. As an organizer, you facilitate this collaboration and create opportunities for networking and knowledge exchange. This promotes synergy and can lead to valuable collaborations for future mobility projects. We have also often seen that a hackathon is an excellent opportunity to bring together data from different parties to learn from together. And the hackathon itself was already very suitable as a means for this.

Steps to organize a mobility hackathon

Determine objectives:
Define clear objectives for the mobility hackathon. Think about what you want to achieve, such as exploring new mobility solutions, stimulating collaboration, or attracting talent to the mobility sector.

Partnerships and sponsorship:
Identify potential partners and sponsors interested in the mobility sector. Work with them to make the event possible and provide valuable prizes, resources, or support to the participants.

Develop challenges and cases:
Create challenging cases and challenges that fit the objectives of the hackathon. Ensure that the cases are relevant to the mobility sector and that they challenge participants to come up with innovative solutions.

Recruit participants:
Promote the mobility hackathon and recruit participants. Use various channels, such as social media, newsletters, and networking events, to bring attention to the hackathon. Target professionals, developers, designers, and experts within the mobility sector. We can of course also play a role in this.

Event planning and execution:
Plan the details of the event, such as the location, date, schedule, catering, and necessary technical resources. Provide an inspiring and well-organized environment where participants can collaborate and innovate.

Guidance and mentoring:
Provide guidance and mentoring during the mobility hackathon. Offer support to the participants so they can optimally benefit from the expertise and experience of professionals in the mobility sector.

Evaluation and prizes:
Set up an evaluation process and select an expert panel to assess the ideas and solutions of the participants. Provide valuable prizes that recognize the efforts and achievements of the participants.

Mobility hackathons: examples of successful events

We have years of experience in organizing hackathons, including in the field of mobility. For example, we previously organized the following hackathons:

Dutch Mobility Hackathon: more than 150 professionals participated in this event. The goal of this Mobility Hackathon, organized in 2019, was to find solutions to prevent traffic in the Netherlands from becoming gridlocked in the coming years.. With the knowledge that the capacity of the Dutch road network and public transport is insufficient to meet the growing demand for mobility. The urgency was clear, and innovative and sustainable solutions were sought, resulting in several good ideas. We organized this hackathon together with: ANWB, RET, HTM, NS, and Pon.

Mobihack: we organized the ‘mobihack’ for the province of Gelderland and the municipality of Nijmegen. More than 50 students, citizens, data scientists, and local companies participated. Together, they worked for 30 hours straight to find smart solutions for the traffic problem in the busy Heijendaal district in Nijmegen. The winning team discovered that if Radboud University and HAN would shift their class schedules by 15 minutes, the traffic problem would be largely solved. Research later showed that this was indeed the case.

Organizing a mobility hackathon: contact us without obligation

Are you planning to organize a hackathon about mobility? Then feel free to contact us today. We’d be happy to tell you more about our experience and what we can do for your event.