The PSChallenge18 course develops public services at the forefront of the digital transformation

Together with Accenture, the Faculty of Law at the University of Helsinki and public sector organisations, Aalto University is organising a multidisciplinary course that is built around the Hackathon event.

The DigitalISM Challenge (#pschallenge18) now being held for the fourth time was previously known as Public Service Hackathon 100 (#PSHACK100). ‘This is a “Master Class” aimed at public service developers. Through knowledge, work and sharing, it takes the participants to a new level of open innovation, cooperative development, data utilisation and design thinking', says Tuulia Timonen, who is responsible for the project at Accenture.

This autumn, The Family Centres in Helsinki will present challenges related to service need assessment and to service packages. Finnish Tax Administration and Nordea are joining the course with a challenge related to holistic personal finances and living.

The course has proven effective, and it is developed in an ambitious manner based on experiences and the best insights. The course utilises the best practices of Accenture's global organisation and draws new insights from the cross-disciplinary operation of the Aalto University. The students should be customer-oriented, have fresh views and be able to innovate cooperatively.

Cooperation and the culture of experimentation boost the productivity of public sector organisations

The course is implemented by experts from Accenture's Health and Public Services division, Fjord's service designers and a group of professors and teachers from Aalto and the University of Helsinki. The course is also supported by artificial intelligence, data science and information management experts from Accenture. A group of experts from Aalto and Accenture will support the student teams as they create and evaluate the solutions. Representatives of the participating organisations will also be actively involved in coaching the teams. A total of 150 students from all of Aalto's schools will have the opportunity to participate in the course.

'This challenge-based course intended for business, engineering, design and law students gives the students an opportunity to do good for society by using their creativity and skills. They also receive feedback on their work and have a chance to network', says Johanna Bragge, Senior University Lecturer.

During the autumn, the organisations involved will identify the challenges and problems that they would like the student teams to address. It is likely that the invited organisations want students to develop new services and practices that make the services more user-friendly for the customers and to come up with solutions that can increase service mobility, etc.

The Hackathon event will be held in November, the final is in December

Students must register for the course by 22 October. The course begins with an introductory lecture on 29 October and a kick-off event open for all on 30 October. The actual Hackathon event will be held in Dipoli on 13-14 November. The Hackathon teams are given the freedom to develop concepts and solutions for the organisations’ challenges in any manner they wish over a period of two days. Experts from the invited organisations, Aalto University, the University of Helsinki and Accenture will coach and motivate the teams during the competition. The winning team will be selected on 13 December, when the semi-finalist teams chosen on 28 November will present their solutions to a jury comprising all the Hackathon organisers. In addition to the 20-hour long Hackathon, the course includes lectures, group work assignments, coaching, start-up cooperation and excursions.

Registration by 22 October 
https://oodi.aalto.fi/a/opintjakstied.jsp?OpinKohd=1132605003

Further information: https://www.whatif.aalto.fi/pshack

Aalto University:
Johanna Bragge
Senior University Lecturer, Department of Information and Service Management
+358 40 530 1032
johanna.bragge@aalto.fi

Accenture:
Tuulia Timonen
Health & Public Services
040 715 2703
tuulia.timonen@accenture.com