What students proposed to a big retailer: results of the hackathon at Hi-Tech Park

The hackathon has concluded at the Hi-Tech Park Startup Center, where more than 60 teams sought ways to turn "home repair and household goods" into an ecosystem that accompanies people in their daily lives. Here is how it went and who ended up in the top three.

Space Hackathon with OMA brought together more than 230 registered participants – students from Belarusian universities. They had to devise and package a service concept that would expand the familiar boundaries of the OMA company and integrate the retailer into adjacent areas of the client's life. Twelve teams made it to the final. The wording sounds like a marketing slogan, but behind it lies a very concrete business task: how can a company everyone knows for its shelves of paint and tiles become part of everyday scenarios – from furnishing an apartment to caring for one's home and family.

For the first time at the Hi-Tech Park venue – the OMA company, for which this is also its very first experience working with a student audience in a hackathon format.

"I've only just arrived, and I'm already starting to soak up your energy and creativity. High hopes. I think it's all going to be great," Igor Adamenko, General Director of OMA, addressed the participants. "I wish everyone that these days go with a bang, that the wishes and hopes that brought you here come true. And I think we'll be able to cook up some really cool stuff together."

Behind this seemingly informal phrase lies a quite grown-up request: the company needs fresh ideas, and the participants need a real case they can put in their portfolio.

Hi-Tech Park in this story is not just a venue. It is an environment where a student idea gains access to real business and feedback from top management.

Together with Hi-Tech Park, the hackathon was organized by the StartUp Space BNTU team – a branch of the public association "Youth Innovation Community 'Startup Space'" that opened only this year. For it, this was the first experience of preparing such an event.

The OMA case was formulated as follows: develop a service that will take the retail ecosystem to a new level and integrate the company into adjacent areas of the client's life. Here it is not enough to come up with a beautiful idea – you need a business model, an understanding of the audience and an answer to the question "why do people need this."

The intensive at the Startup Center did not stop for all three days: teams generated ideas, attended expert lectures, learned to present a product and defend it before the expert commission.

The final day resembled a rapid pitch of startup ideas before investors: teams had a few minutes to pack three days of work into a short pitch, and the experts had just as long to figure out whether there was a viable product behind the beautiful presentation. The defense was grown-up style: with a business model, economics and visual component, and the questions concerned not only technology but also the audience, the price and the product's place in the retailer's existing ecosystem. Nerves, last-minute edits to the presentation a minute before going on – and at the same time the thrill of managing to show the best of what you have. After each defense – a short discussion in which the experts did not so much evaluate as suggest where the solution could be strengthened.

Opening the decisive day, Dmitry Kalechits, First Deputy Head of Hi-Tech Park, noted that two days of active work had gone by: teams had searched for new ideas and solutions and brought them to a finished product. "Today there are already 12 teams in the final, and what lies ahead is probably the hardest part – presenting your projects to the esteemed jury. I would like to thank the OMA company for believing in young talents and for the new challenges it offers our youth. To the participants I wish a confident defense and a strong performance. The strongest will of course win, but I think everyone has gained very valuable experience and new opportunities here."

Sergey Masalovich, Head of HR at OMA, drew attention to the fact that many participants had gone through a path in these days that usually takes months: "You already have a superpower – endurance. Two days of intense work, checkpoints, meetings with the jury – you have gone through all of it and made it to the final. And one more thing: it's not scary if something breaks or something doesn't work. Every day at the company we encounter the fact that things break or don't work for clients. What matters is not what broke, but how we fix it and that we know how to do it. Today is the final of your work – good luck to everyone, and may everything work out for you."

The hackathon prize fund amounted to 6,000 BYN. After the project defenses, the expert commission identified the top three:

1st place: Maxim Levdansky's team (College of Business and Law).

2nd place: Stefania Ermolaeva's team (MSLU, BNTU).

3rd place: Filatsita Bogdanova's team (BSUIR).

3rd place: Ekaterina Muraveiko's team (BSUIR).

In addition, Ilya Rynak's team (BNTU, BSU) and Maxim Levdansky's team (College of Business and Law) were invited to discuss further piloting at the OMA company.

Besides prizes, participants took away from the venue experience working on a real case from a major retailer, new acquaintances and an understanding of how the path from idea to product works. For Hi-Tech Park, this is another step in its work to involve young people in technological entrepreneurship: the Park provides a venue, mentoring support and connections with business – all that's left is to try.