Last weekend (24-26 November) a Hackathon was organised at the Brightlands Smart Services Campus in Heerlen. The theme was mobility as a smart service. With 85 participants, teams were formed, all trying to create a product and a business plan in 48 hours to make mobility easier, smarter and better in the future. As a car rental company, it was of course great to experience this.
On Friday evening, we will hear 4 pitches from organisations (CBS, Province of Limburg, Q-park and Trendsportal) that will stimulate us to come up with new ideas about mobility. All participants must form teams of 5 to 6 people. Each team has until Sunday afternoon at 3 PM to turn a smart idea into a business plan..
Plenty of ideas
That's going to be a long Friday evening. Lots of discussion about what kind of product we're going to propose. The wildest ideas are coming up.
Flying cars?
Pave all the railways?
Close city centres to all cars?
Getting people out of social isolation (everyone's staring at their smartphones these days)?
Better/different transport for the elderly or for young people respectively?
Designing single-person cars?
Create an app that advises us on the best way to travel?
Should we as humans continue to travel – soon we'll be able to communicate via VR (virtual reality) anyway?
As an old chap amongst all these young people, I feel myself becoming young again thanks to all the fantastic suggestions. As it gets later, coaches regularly wander in, urging us to come up with an idea quickly. Sunday afternoon at 3:00 PM is the deadline – no stick, no pitch. But oh well, Sunday afternoon still seems a long way off – we have all the time in the world. Or so we think.
PAMM is born
I don't know if it's still Friday evening or already Saturday morning, but we're making progress.
We humans are creatures of habit. We usually take the transport we always take. If you have a car, you take that, of course. If you don't have a car, you take public transport. But is that always the smartest choice?
We are going to create a personal assistant that will help us make better choices. Our smartphone already knows so much about us: what our diary looks like, what the weather will be like tomorrow, which buses or trains are running soon (or not). Our assistant will give us advice on how to travel smarter.
It won't be an app – that's sooooo old-fashioned. No, we're going for a proper PA.
And so PAMM is born. Our personal assistant in mobility management.
Digital.
A slim.
Travel is becoming fun, and also cheaper and easier.
Camping
It's definitely Saturday morning now and I'm quite tired. My teammates are still young and are just carrying on.
There's a campsite set up on the 6th floor. With pop-up tents. That's easy, better than having to pack them away again. And the airbed was already inflated. Great service here!
Falling asleep doesn't come easily. All sorts of ideas are swirling around in my head. How do we proceed tomorrow?
Furthermore, the air conditioning seems to be malfunctioning somewhere – an annoying rattling is keeping me from sleeping.
After a few hours of sleep, the campsite begins to stir. Time for a good breakfast. Where is the rest of my team? Kevin was up half the night putting together a mega mind map for our idea PAMM. Quintin extensively tried out the VR games. Tom and Debby went home but are also back early.
Inspiration
We're kicking off Saturday with an inspiring workshop from Arjen van Berkum, Chief Disruption Officer.
Are we making a product that people want or a product that people behoefte aanThe majority of problems in our society are will-problems: I want to have, have, have. And if we don't see that ourselves, advertising will tell us. This world has more need for products that people behoefte aan. If you think you've come up with a good product, try to kill your idea yourself, like a true pessimist.
Look, that's a great momentum to continue working on your new product… Try to kill your own idea!
But it is valuable. During the break, I speak to another participant who tells me: I left the workshop halfway through – I’d rather stick with my own idea. Oh well.
Business plan
Sprint 2 begins. A business plan needs to be drawn up for our product. Fortunately, a business plan nowadays is no longer a 50-page document, but a diagram. On this canvas, you stick Post-its that provide answers to questions such as:
- What value does your product provide to your customer?
- Through which channels does your product reach your customer?
- Which partners will you look for for your business?
- What are your costs?
- Hoe ga je geld verdienen?
Our business model canvas is being assembled.
But that's not all. We also need a mock-up to show how our idea will work. And a pitch needs to be prepared to be held on Sunday afternoon to convince the jury how great a product we have come up with. And the pitch will naturally require a presentation.
Following the advice of the coaches who regularly visit us, we're going to divide the tasks. Otherwise, we'll never make the deadline.
Just before the deadline
Kevin will assemble the mock-up, with Quintin helping him. I'll get started on the pitch. It shouldn't take longer than 5 minutes, and it must convince the jury that our idea is fantastic.
What would the other teams have come up with? Unfortunately, we don't have time for a bit of espionage. Although, Debby knows a few people from another team, she's going to go and have a look. Tom's already starting on the presentation.
We're working through until late on Saturday evening, and it'll soon be Sunday morning. We're not the only team working this late. In fact, it seems like we're finishing earlier than everyone else. Time for a game, a beer, and some relaxation.
On Sunday, the tension really builds. The presentation stick has to be handed in at 3:00 PM. But that can only happen once the pitch is finished. Oh yes, there's also a workshop on pitching. Who's going to that? The mock-up also needs to be done, as it belongs in the presentation. Which corporate identity should our PAMM have: red, green or blue? Or is yellow nicer?
I'm at the campsite, practicing our pitch above the Heerlen skyline. I get a text from Kevin. Our team is the first to hand in the presentation. A good or bad omen?
The pitch
On Sunday afternoon, all teams will present their new application. Pitches of 5 minutes, followed by a 5-minute Q&A from the jury. Everything will be broadcast live on the Facebook page of Hack4smartservices.
Good to hear what solutions have been devised. A carpooling service for travellers in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. A platform with which lorries can platoon better (less fuel consumption by driving closely behind one another). An application to increase social well-being by travelling together more.
On behalf of team PAMM, I'd like to pitch the birth of our digital assistant. The pitch is going quite well, the jury's questions are tricky. It's not easy to convey an idea you've spent 48 hours on properly and answer all the questions about it.
After the jury's deliberation, the winners will be announced. Emerce wrote an article about it on Monday.. Shame, no prize for us.
I've had a great weekend. Spoken to many people, heard many ideas. Brightlands and my teammates Tom, Debby, Kevin and Quintin, thank you!
What are your thoughts on smart mobility? Will we still be driving our own cars in 20 years? How will our infrastructure change? Feel free to write your response!
