Jan 18, 2019 by Pierre-Jean (PJ) Quenardel
Large corporations increasingly turn to hackathons to explore new ideas, bring together diverse expertise, and develop innovative business solutions. Internal and public hackathons are becoming an important part of how companies approach innovation, creating opportunities to collaborate, experiment, and solve business challenges more efficiently.
Several key trends are shaping the hackathon landscape, including the growing popularity of these events, continued demand for public hackathons, the rise of internal events, changing participation, and the use of emerging technologies.
Hackathons are taking on different forms as companies look for new ways to approach innovation and collaboration. Here are five trends that stand out from the 2018 hackathon landscape.
5,636 public and internal hackathons were organized globally in 2018, nearly 40% more than in 2016. That’s according to statistics from Hackathon.com, the largest online hackathon community worldwide.
Corporations are breaking away from traditional approaches that involve months of research, lengthy product development cycles, and extended market testing. Instead, they are using internal and public hackathons to create innovative business solutions faster and more efficiently.
In 2018, 64% of hackathons were public, allowing companies to tap into the expertise of the developer and startup ecosystem. Surprisingly, only 27% of technology companies organized hackathons this year, while the manufacturing (12%) and transportation (11%) industries have seen a gradual rise.
These industries are also realizing the benefits of working with external developers and designers to explore multiple ideas for business solutions in minimal time.
Hackathons are becoming a critical part of organizational culture, with 37% more internal hackathons organized in 2018 than in 2016.
This format is gaining popularity, with 18% of financial services institutions, 17% of manufacturing companies, and 16% of retail companies running internal hackathons this year. These companies benefit from using internal expertise to foster intrapreneurship and boost cross-team collaboration, helping them develop business solutions, remain competitive, and improve overall work processes.
In 2018, almost 40% of hackathon participants were developers, with engineers, data scientists, and marketers also taking part. This mix of technical and business expertise brings different perspectives together to explore ideas and develop innovative solutions.
Hackathon organizers are increasingly using emerging technologies to generate innovative solutions, with 21% using Artificial Intelligence, 16% Augmented and Virtual Reality, 12% IoT, and 11% security. Surprisingly, only 9% of hackathons in 2018 were focused on Blockchain.
Everything behind these trends is captured in the infographic below. It covers 2016 to 2018 growth, who took part, and where hackathons are heading in 2019.
The 2018 data makes one thing clear. Hackathons have moved from one-off experiments to a proven way for companies to innovate, engage teams, and solve real business challenges. Whether you want to tap into the developer and startup ecosystem through a public hackathon, or spark intrapreneurship and cross-team collaboration with an internal one, the right format depends on your goals.
That is where BeMyApp comes in. We help you organize your hackathon end to end, from strategy and participant recruitment to event production, technology, and reporting, so you can focus on the outcomes while we manage the details.
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