Solutions innovated during the Digitalism Challenge course are put into practice

This autumn, nearly 100 Aalto students from five of our schools solved digital challenges presented by the Finnish Organic Association, Tapola Camphill Organic Farm and Fat Lizard Brewing Co. on the Digitalism Challenge course (#pschallenge19). The task of the interdisciplinary teams consisting of graduate students was to develop solutions within four weeks for challenges presented by the participating organisations within the framework of the Nordic Smart Government (NSG) project.

The finals were held on 25 November in Dipoli, where the solutions of all the 19 student teams were presented to the public. After the four-minute pitch presentations, representatives of the participating organisations had a chance to ask further questions about the solutions. The teams presented their concepts using a variety of effects – plays, short films and user interface animations.

During the course, the students gained lots of performance experience both from a coaching lecture held by University Lecturer Christa Uusi-Rauva and through practical experience.

‘For many students, the final presentation of the course is the first opportunity ever to hold a microphone and address an audience of over hundred people. This is a valued working life skill that has been highlighted in our annual graduation surveys, for example. Therefore, I would like to thank my colleague Christa Uusi-Rauva for her excellent long-term effort to spar our students with their presentation skills,’ says the teacher in charge of the course, Senior University Lecturer Johanna Bragge from the Department of Information and Service Management at the School of Business.

Winning solution to boost the sales of Fat Lizard Brewing Co.

According to the jury, the task of ranking the pitch performances was very challenging, as each team had prepared meticulously for their presentation. However, decisions had to be made, and the solution created for Fat Lizard by the Incredibles team was chosen as the best solution. The runner-ups were team Quantum (Tapola Camphill Organic Farm) and team Dice (the Finnish Organic Association).

The Incredibles team developed a solution for Fat Lizard that allows the brewery to collect data for optimised growth directly from the market. The solution was designed to improve the flow of information between Fat Lizard and its customers by using structured data such as eReceipts and eOrders. The members of the winning team were Florian Ebbing, Alina Czeczinski, Elina Halttunen, Pinja Keinänen, Emilia Nevalainen and Oiva Skytén.

In turn, the Quantum team developed a digital platform for the Tapola Camphill Farm, making it possible to take care of all the everyday tasks of the farming company in one place. All the relevant changes and files are stored directly in a shared database, which facilitates the reporting, documentation and stock management of the farms. The database also provides information on, for example, production volumes at the national level. The solution enables the farms to make better use of data in their decision-making, instead of making decisions based on a person’s gut feeling.

The Dice team proposed that the Finnish Organic Association should develop a digital platform that would bring together farmers, authorities such as the Finnish Food Authority and the Finnish Tax Administration, and the Finnish Organic Association. The platform would enhance the efficiency of processing farming data by collecting all data electronically. This would improve the management and sharing of know-how and resources between different operators and also make the activities more transparent. The platform would operate based on the one-stop principle, allowing farmers to streamline and automate the required bureaucracy and focus on their core task: farming.

The jury was chaired by Senior Adviser Minna Rintala from the Tax Administration. The other jury members were Manager Carsten Ingerslev from Danish Business Authority representing the NSG project, Payment Transactions Manager Keijo Kettunen from the State Treasury, Professor of Practice Katariina Kemppainen from Aalto University and Managing Director Konstantin Vdovenko from Accenture, and the participating organisations were represented by Farm Manager Jani Schulz from Tapola Camphill, CEO Heikki Ylinen from Fat Lizard and Animal Production Advisor Katarina Rehnström from the Finnish Organic Association.

Public sector digi-hackathon courses have been successful

Aalto University organised this unique and practical development experience already for the fifth time. This Capstone course is worth six credit points.

‘The students from Aalto demonstrated concretely and illustratively how standardized and structured data enable both improved decision-making in businesses and streamlined reporting to authorities. When the data is real-time and more easily accessible, it does not only save time for more important matters, but it also brings forth new opportunities for growth and prosperity. The NSG initiative targets exactly this: towards a Nordic-level ecosystem, where digitalisation provides businesses the best possible conditions for growth and success,’ says NSG Project Manager Terhi Maijala from the Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH).

‘Once again, the collaboration with Accenture and the professionals in its service design unit Fjord was smooth, and I would like to thank especially Design Lead Antti Routto from Fjord, who acted as the main facilitator in the events. We are grateful for the courage of our client organisations to leap into this process and we are following the transformation of the public sector with great interest,’ says Johanna Bragge.In addition to Bragge, the Aalto coaching team included Professor of Practice Esko Penttinen, Researcher Juha Eskelinen and University Lecturer Tapani Kykkänen, as well as Digital Developer Taru Rastas and University Lecturer Annukka Svanda from the School of Arts, Design and Architecture.

Aalto University:

Johanna Bragge
Senior University Lecturer
School of Business
Department of Information and Service Management
+358 40 530 1032
[email protected]

Accenture:

Markus Mäkinen
Project Manager
+358 40 576 9957
[email protected]

Nordic Smart Government project:

Project Managers:

Terhi Maijala
Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH)
+358 29 509 5300
[email protected]

Sanna Esterinen
Finnish Tax Administration
+358 29 512 4409
[email protected]

Twitter: #PSChallenge19

The Twitter hashtag PS stands for Public Sector, because Digitalism Challenge focuses on solving the challenges of the public sector, thus facilitating everyday life for small businesses and consumers.