We welcome all open-minded talents to apply for Dash Hack! If you are interested in problem-solving in a multidisciplinary team, and willing to develop yourself professionally – Dash Hack is for you! You will get to learn hands-on experience in design thinking methods as well as meet like-minded, talented people. After this hackathon, you will get in touch with the partner companies. On top of all that, the winning teams will get awarded!
It’s free for the participants! The entire event, including the actual hacking, a virtual pre-event, keynote speakers, mentoring of design experts, delicious meals, and sponsor products, are free of charge.
Yes! In Dash Hack, English will be the primary language.
No, the core idea of Dash Hack is to try new things and learn! We welcome every background of talents to participate.
Yes, you have to be at least 18 to apply for Dash Hack.
Yes! At Dash, we embrace multidisciplinary and believe that teams with diverse backgrounds should be seen as an asset! Everyone interested in design and design thinking methods is warmly welcome to apply! The teams are built from participants from different fields of study, not only from people with a design background. You can classify yourself as an architect, business specialist, UX designer, engineer, or something completely else. There’s room and need for everyone!
It’s perfectly fine! It doesn’t matter! Dash Hack is for trying new things and learning and working with people with different skill sets. One can work on the visuals, come up with the craziest ideas, and have more in-depth insight into the challenging field.
Yes, we welcome all levels of students participants!
Yes! You can still apply! There have also been recent graduates participating throughout the years, for instance. What matters the most is your motivation and eagerness to work on our partner companies’ challenges by applying design thinking methods as a part of a multidisciplinary team.
No, you apply as an individual – we take care of the team forming process and make sure your team will be diverse, functional, and awesome. But yes, you and your friend are both warmly welcome to apply!
If you’re studying at Aalto University, you can apply for 2 ECTS credits belonging to your elective studies. All you need to do is attend, have fun and send us a short report (it’s like a two-pager, you can do it!) about your experience. If you study in some other university, we recommend you to contact your course coordinator and ask whether that would be possible in your university as well.
There’s no previous experience required for participating in Dash Hack, just the eagerness to learn! We’ll give you the necessary tools to make the most of your team’s multidisciplinary and tackle the challenge with the support of design thinking methods and mentoring possibilities. We in Dash see design as a mindset that makes life easier and more enjoyable. For us, design is a set of tools that helps create sustainable solutions and optimal experiences for both customers and organizations. And it’s something that everybody could – and should – learn. Briefly described, design thinking is a problem-solving process prioritizing the user’s needs above all else provides an iterative, hands-on approach to creating innovative solutions by relying on empathic observing how people interact with their environments.
Yes! Before the hackathon, you’ll get more familiar with the design thinking methods. During Dash Hack, both mentors and partner company representatives will provide you with new perspectives and ongoing feedback about your project work.
If you’re coming from outside of the Helsinki area, we advise you to find a place for accommodation. If you have some concerns about that, don’t hesitate to contact our Head of Participants Eelis, he’ll help you out!
Unfortunately, no. The hackathon takes place in a hotel in the Helsinki area, and each team will have a hotel room for hacking the challenge. You’ll get to experience the magical atmosphere of a hotel room transformed into workplace-like nests of creativity. You’ll get to brainstorm with your team as long as you ever wish. However, as the hotel room will be used as your office, we recommend you find a separate place of accommodation for the night. You know, for the sake of maintaining a healthy work-life balance!
Nothing! All you need is the eagerness to learn, apply your skills, and collaborate with people from different educational backgrounds.
Your safety is our priority, and that is why at the beginning of the pandemic, we were facing a puzzle – how to organize the event safely yet maximize the hackathon experience? As a solution, we came up with providing the teams with a hotel room for hacking the challenge, which turned out to be a great environment for the teams to focus on the challenges.However, we are constantly keeping an eye out on the governmental regulations and will react accordingly. Either way, Dash Hack will be organized!
The winning team of each challenge will be rewarded with a money prize, but there will be smaller prizes as well. However, we guarantee that participating in the hackathon – learning how to solve problems by applying design thinking methods, gaining experience solving real-life company problems, getting in touch with the partner companies and meeting like-minded, talented people – is a great opportunity and a valuable experience itself!
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Head of Participants
eelis.copeland@dash.design
We are a student-run organization calling for creative problem-solving methods in all aspects of life. By using design thinking methods, we strive to connect students and professionals from all fields of study. During the past five years, we have been organizing weekend-long hackathons, Dash Hacks, for multidisciplinary teams to work on challenges provided by our partner companies. Along with them, throughout the years, we have held other design thinking events such as seminars, other hackathons and webinars as well – but currently, Dash Hack is our main focus!
We have hosted five hackathon so far!
Visit here for Dash page.
If you’re interested in hearing more about partnering with us, please contact our Head of Partnerships, Santeri Salmela, who would be extremely happy to help you with all your company’s needs and interests.
Our partners come from a variety of industries and provide participants with exciting challenges, all from a very different angles. Our previous year’s partners include for example F-Secure, Fazer, Neste, Tikkurila, EA, Citycon, Finavia and Vaisala.
We have a range of different partnership options for you to select from! If you’re interested in partnering with us, don’t hesitate to contact our Head of Partnerships, Santeri Salmela. He’d be happy to tell you more about them!
Yes! The partner companies are involved in the whole process. During the hackathon weekend, the partner company representatives are present to be able to provide the teams with frequent feedback and at the end of the event, assess the pitches of their final solutions.
Head of Partnerships
santeri.salmela@dash.design
There are many! Volunteering at Dash is also a great opportunity to develop your skills, learn together with like-minded people and gain some experience. Besides that, we were created by Aaltoes, the most prominent and active student-run entrepreneurship society in Europe. As part of the startup ecosystem, there are events, team activities, and most of all an amazing community surrounding us.
Our lovely Dash volunteer team composes, similar to participants, from students from various backgrounds who are all eager to learn from each other, get experience and, most importantly, make life-long memories.
We are currently recruiting volunteers for Dash Hack 2022, which takes place from 7.-9.10.2022. There are open many positions within three main teams: Operations, People and Partnership, and Marketing. Find more information and apply through this form. We also have a Telegram group for people interested in joining the Dash team. If you’d like to hear about open volunteer positions, they will be announced in that group.
Head of People
niklas.hamberg@dash.design
Dash Design
info@dash.design
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