Inside the CERES Danish Hackathon: From Skills to Circular Innovation

On March 5th, the PlayLab at Aalborg University became a dynamic space for experimentation, collaboration, and circular economy innovation during the CERES Danish Hackathon.

Three teams of MSc students from the Operations and Innovation Management and Entrepreneurial Business Engineering programmes took part in an intensive day dedicated to addressing real company challenges through creative and hands-on problem-solving.

Throughout the hackathon, participants moved step by step from understanding the challenge to designing innovative and practical solutions. The activities combined circular economy thinking, digital approaches, teamwork, and business strategy, reflecting the CERES vision of connecting skills development with real labour market and sustainability needs

The teams explored different phases of the innovation process, including:

• challenge analysis and problem understanding,
• ideation and conceptualisation,
• the “Sandboxing” method to stimulate creativity through play,
• development of the business dimension of their ideas,
• and the production of final video pitches presenting their solutions.

The hackathon also reflected CERES’ broader approach to education and innovation ecosystems, where learners are encouraged to combine transversal, digital, technical, and sustainability-oriented competences to tackle real-world circular economy challenges

The final result was three innovative proposals offering new perspectives on circular and sustainable business models.

More than a competition, the CERES Hackathon represented a practical learning experience where students, companies, and circular economy thinking came together in the same space allowing ideas to quickly move from theory into practice.