The 24-hour Hackathon “HackTheWaste” co-hosted by the BA School of Business and Finance concluded successfully on April 1st , with participants tackling issues from two business partners: SIA ZAAO (Latvia) and ARNHEM KINGSDAY (The Netherlands).

 100 students from 6 national universities took part in the Hackathon, and 14 teams were formed. 9 teams tackled the issue of waste management at a public holiday in the Netherlands (Arnhem Kingsday), while 5 teams tackled the problem submitted  by the waste management company ZAAO, based an a case study of the International Conversation Festival LAMPA.

Within 24 hours, all teams worked on building the team’s internal climate, generating innovative and sustainable ideas, prototyping and finding solutions to their assigned tasks. During the Hackathon, teams had the opportunity to consult mentors from all partner-countries involved. There were 3 jury commissions in the final round assessing the work of the teams and the results presented and at the end  3 winning teams has been  announced.

On the ZAAO case the winning title was given to the team “Green Intelligence”, lead by BA School of Business and Finance study programme Business Process Management (distance learning) 5th-year student Kristers Eduards Švāns, and consisting of students from Leeuven, Limburg and the South Africa. Congratulations to the team!

The solution includes a unique offering that, in partnership with ZAAO, the team will offer to the organizers of LAMPA when meeting and offer to develope the ideas born during this Hackathon.

The solution proposed by the team includes a uniquely complex approach addressing waste mitigation and management issues during the Conversation Festival LAMPA in the city of Cesis. The jury’s recommendation was for a student team, in collaboration with ZAAO, to meet (virtualy) with the LAMPA organizers and to offer to implement ideas developed during this hackathon.

For the  assignment provided by ARNHEM 2 winners were nominated: “Plastic planners” with Ansis Avotins  BA School of Business and Finance “Business Process Management” 4th study-year student within the team and “Trash Bandits” with Dziyana Kryvitskaya BA School of Business and Finance “Business Process Management” 4th study-year student within the team. Congratulations to the teams!

The tasks were to be carried out under conditions such as:

• Cross-cultural cooperation – develop intercultural competencies in cooperation with students of higher education institutions of other countries
• Interdisciplinarity – in teamwork, take into account the skills and competencies of your teammates in a variety of areas to broaden your vision and open up more opportunities for solutions
• Teamwork – although participants in teams were from different study programs, teams had to work together, with one goal and learn from each other
• Follow a timeline and positive approach

 Case studies and assignments from the Hackathon partners:

Arnhem Kingsday

Problem: During large events in a city a lot of waste is left on the streets. People do not throw it in wastebins. Cleaning the streets is a lot of work and waste is not being recycled.

Question: How can we reduce waste thrown away and better recycle it into new products by making the public more aware of problem of the waste.

SIA ZAAO

It is a challenge for waste management authorities and companies to offer and provide sustainable waste management solutions large public events/festivals organized everywhere.

The challenge is how to enjoy festivals and in the same time to keep environment clean reducing the amount of waste.

Case study: International conversation festival LAMPA in Cesis, town in Latvia- a large-scale initiative, an open platform, the content of which is made up of more than 300 organizations and active individuals, working together to create a place to exchange opinions in a free, relaxed atmosphere and respectfully discuss current topics in society. Every year in summer Festival LAMPA gathers thousands of people during 2 days in an open city environment. Assignment for the teams – to present a solution for the waste problem.