Student – apply for DigiSus Make IT Better Digithon and help us make a difference!
Time: 26-28 February
Location: Paidia, Nokia Arena, Kansikatu 3
Apply by 2 February (application period has closed!)
DigiSus research platform seeks responsible solutions for the interplay of digitalisation and sustainable development in a rapidly changing world. The cross-pressure of the digital and sustainability transitions creates challenges and opportunities that often seem sketchy, invisible or too big to grasp. We want to break sustainable digital future into human-sized challenges – small streams that create a river of change.
The Make IT Better Digithon utilises the traditional hackathon setting, but instead of wild ideas, we focus on the tangible. By participating, students can acquire precious experience on interdisciplinary teamwork for their portfolio as well as get a chance to meet industry contacts. It is also possible for students to get up to two credits for participating.
DigiSus encourages collaboration between different disciplines, so we invite Tampere University and TAMK students (also PhD students) from all majors to take part in the Digithon, regardless of technical skills or studies. Your unique background and insights might be just what is needed to gain a new perspective! Participants will be divided into multidisciplinary teams of 3–4 based on their skills and interests listed in the sign-up form. The collaborating companies’ and organisations’ representatives will mentor the teams during the event and DigiSus representatives will also be there to provide assistance.
Partners and Challenges
Below you can find brief descriptions of the six challenges from partners. The students selected to participate in the Digithon will be asked for their interests and preferences to assign them to suitable teams, and will also receive more detailed materials prior to the event.
1) How to develop AI with ethical and sustainable solutions?
- Partner: Netum
- Challenge in brief: At Netum, we’re interested in Human-Centred AI. We want you to map out tangible ways AI can affect the world and envision ways to enable more sustainable ways to deploy it. We encourage you to choose your focus points for the project based on your strengths and interests and draw inspiration from your own experiences.
- Keywords: social and environmental sustainability, digital services in the public sector, accessible and human-centred services, AI’s societal impacts.
2) Remote expert work: principles and methods for working remotely as part of a team
- Partner: Valmet
- Challenge in brief: Work in general has become remote and a lot of expert work is done remotely. How can teams work sustainably together and how team members can collaborate with each other? What kind of tools and methods they could use to improve collaboration among peers? Could AI or other technologies be utilized, why and how?
- Keywords: remote work, expert work, team collaboration.
3) Utilizing AI in the industrial and safety critical environment
- Partner: Valmet
- Challenge in brief: Generative AI is already widely used in our everyday life. It could have benefits also in the industrial context. However, concerns and technical limitations are typically raised within industrial context on using AI as part of automation, industrial and safety critical systems. How could AI be technically feasible with industrial context? How could language models be utilized; do they need to be developed for a certain purpose and what kind of limitations and restrictions they might bring?
- Keywords: industrial contexts, generative AI, automation, safety critical systems.
4) Solution to actively engage the startup house’s alumni network
- Partner: Platform 6
- Challenge in brief: Create an innovative platform or app for Platform6, a startup house celebrating its 5th anniversary, to actively engage its alumni network. The solution should facilitate alumni in offering peer support, participating in community events, and staying connected with each other. It should cater to alumni at various stages, including those who have relocated within Tampere or have exited their companies, ensuring they remain integrated and active within the startup community.
- Keywords: alumni engagement, startups, peer support, community events, connections.
5) Smart home for residents: Well-being and communality through technology
- Partner: City of Tampere / Tredu
- Challenge in brief: How can Tredu’s Smart Home concept be integrated into residents’ daily lives so that it improves well-being, promotes communality and utilizes existing resources in a sustainable manner? The Smart Home has been designed for educational use, but its potential could be expanded to provide Tampere residents new services that combine technology, health, well-being and community needs. Your challenge is to design a service model, process or technological solution for taking Smart Home into use for a wider population of residents, for example elderly, families or people in need of everyday support.
- Keywords: smart home, health, well-being, communality, supporting residents.
6) How AI related risks should be managed in Tampere Universities’ operations?
- Partner: Tampere Universities’ IT Services
- Challenge in brief: AI is currently a hype technology in digitalization. Sustainable use of AI is however a debatable topic, e.g. because of high energy consumption. Tampere Universities would greatly benefit from MVP (minimum viable product) for risk mitigation, to be developed further. The tangible result of the Digithon team(s) working on this challenge should include main recommendations supported with key research references.
- Keywords: sustainable use of AI, responsible use of AI, risk management, risk mitigation, university operations.
Timetable for Make IT Better Digithon
Around 7–8-hour daily input is expected from the participants.
Participants will be provided with lunch, coffee and snacks.
26 February – kick-off event at 10-12, teams working on their challenges at 12-17 (Paidia open until 18)
27 February – teams working on their challenges, Paidia open at 9-18
28 February – teams working on their challenges 9-12, presentations of outcomes at 12-14. Casual afterparty to celebrate a job well done in Platform 6 at 14:15-16:30.
Active participation in the event and familiarizing oneself with pre-materials accounts for one credit. Students aiming for two credits will also be expected to produce a publicly shareable video/podcast/report about the work and its outcomes by 14 March.
If you have any questions about Digithon or DigiSus research platform, you can email us at digisus@tuni.fi or visit our website https://research.tuni.fi/digisus/.