Deloitte and OP challenge Aalto students to revitalise declining localities

In March, OP Financial Group and Deloitte will organise the Social Hackathon competition for the students of Aalto University. Students will be challenged to invent new ways of serving people who live in emptying Finnish localities that are becoming increasingly quiet places to live.

Central in this competition are people – service models are now sought both for individuals and different population groups such as ageing people, families with children, children and young people, representatives of different occupations, or immigrants. Especially, new cooperation models and digital service innovations are sought for removing restrictions of the physical world.

In the hackathon, the generated solutions must be applicable to localities that are emptying and in which
- services have declined significantly and
- the current population base and location enable a wider range of basic services in spite of the effects of unemployment and negative net migration on the locality.

Representatives from Deloitte and OP will assess the students’ final works on the basis of the innovativeness, scalability and societal impact of the solution. The final product created may be, for example, an entirely new service, a novel way to approach an existing problem or a digital service concept that will break down the restrictions of the physical world.

Solutions for promoting new growth sought in the competition

‘OP wants to serve people and companies by solving their problems. We want to be actively involved in the search for solutions that promote new growth. We therefore want to participate in looking for novel solutions to ensure the vitality of Finland outside urban centres. It is important for us to find new ways to collect and take advantage of both the tacit knowledge and the more visible knowledge that we already have,’ says Kristian Luoma, who is responsible for new business development at OP.

Deloitte Digital will support the participating teams by providing people to coach them during the competition.

‘The diverse backgrounds of the competitors and the coaches, close collaboration and the intensive way of working in the hackathon turns the competition into a creative idea accelerator and we therefore expect to see innovations that break boundaries for the benefit of all of Finland,’ comments Mikko Räty, the leader of Deloitte Digital in Finland.

The problem that the competition aims to solve is important for both OP and Deloitte. OP’s basic mission is to create financial success, security and well-being both to its owner clients and its operating environment.

Deloitte’s ultimate goal is crystallised in the sentence 'Making an impact that matters.’ Therefore, OP and Deloitte want to continue to develop the idea deemed best. The winning team will be awarded summer jobs at OP Financial Group and Deloitte, which will support the winners to continue working on their concept during the summer.

Schedule: 

• Teams of 3–4 people or individuals can register for the hackathon. Register here.
• The kick-off event will be held in OP’s facilities (Gebhardinaukio 1) on Thursday, 2 March 2017 from 14.00 to 17.00. The task-setting and the assessment criteria will be described in more detail in the event.
• The competing entry will be completed in teams. The teams are formed at the kick-off event.
• The one-day hackathon event will be held on Thursday, 23 March 2017 in the facilities of Aalto University.

Further information:
Ilkka Huikko
Partner, Financial Services
ilkka.huikko@deloitte.fi
Deloitte

Kristian Luoma
Head of New Business Development
kristian.luoma@op.fi
OP Financial Group

Anne Salonvaara
Corporate Relations Manager
anne.salonvaara@aalto.fi
Aalto University