Xiaohongshu
Reflections from the Emerging Economies Hackathon with UCL SU and IDEA Society
Author: Celeste Mallinson, MSc Behaviour Change
When I signed up for the Emerging Economies Hackathon, I didn’t expect that building a team would be just as important as building the solution itself. Very quickly, I realised just how intense — and how fun — building a team in such a short amount of time would be. I felt like everyone was excited to get into developing a solution for a real organisation. Everyone brought an enthusiasm and lightness that I believe fostered our creativity and efficiency. I often feel like there is pressure not to be too excited or fun in case it compromises competency, but I could see how these things, paired with clear criteria for the solution, fuelled our efficiency in a reinforcing feedback loop across the team.
Something we often reflected on was how the limited time made it hard to mince our words or beat around the bush when discussing ideas, which actually made us more efficient. It was also really nice to see how, when anyone was struggling, the team would immediately jump to support them. I had one unanticipated moment of weakness, and the empathy and kindness my teammates showed was a standout part of the hackathon.
The empathy and kindness my teammates showed was a standout part of the hackathon.
The clearest points of development for me were the two rounds of feedback we received — first when we developed our solution, and then when we delivered a practice pitch of this iterated solution. After both rounds, I was impressed at how the team immediately regrouped and built on what was given. Having the opportunity to practise ideation and rapid prototyping through exercises before the actual task was also incredibly helpful. I think this helped us adopt a more relaxed attitude, which we then carried into the challenge itself.
I really enjoyed how nonlinear the ideation process was. We would often return to ideas we had discussed thirty minutes earlier and build on them using new information. I liked seeing how our solutions came to life in this way. Overall, I was constantly impressed by my teammates. Especially on the second day, I kept looking back at how much progress we had made after different ideation and pitching sessions, considering I had only met them the day before.
Having the opportunity to practise ideation and rapid prototyping through exercises before the actual task was also incredibly helpful. I think this helped us adopt a more relaxed attitude, which we then carried into the challenge itself.
I learned a lot about social enterprise through the event, but something that stood out was how difficult it can be to balance income-generating activities with an enterprise’s purpose and social impact priorities. I was already familiar with the idea of a social enterprise, but getting to engage directly with one by working towards a solution for them — and better understanding the mechanisms behind the business model — was really exciting. It definitely inspires me to look for more opportunities to work with social enterprises in the future.
What challenged me the most was the time we had to develop a solution while keeping several important considerations in mind, and making sure these came through in our pitch — especially the balance between profit and purpose. I think we adapted to this by talking through every idea openly, which helped surface the right questions and identify the information we needed. Receiving feedback at different points in the problem-solving process was incredibly helpful, as was having clear criteria from the start. Whenever we started focusing too much on a small detail or drifting away from the task, someone would remind us to return to the criteria, ensuring our solution stayed relevant.
Delivering our final presentation was probably what I enjoyed most. It was so satisfying to look back at what we managed to produce in such a short amount of time and see the outcome of our collaboration. It’s the kind of experience that, for me, really cements how much you can achieve in a short time with a team of peers, a balance of structure and freedom, a clear goal, and feedback. I left the second day feeling excited to apply the skills I developed to my classes and carry them into the work I do in the future.
It’s the kind of experience that, for me, really cements how much you can achieve in a short time with a team of peers, a balance of structure and freedom, a clear goal, and feedback.
