Open Innovation With Sensory and Consumer Science: Hackathon as a Tool for Academic Industry-Cooperation

Abstract

The term ‘hackathon’ derives from the words ‘hacking’ and ‘marathon’ and refers to an event in which participants collaborateand compete to solve a challenge or problem during a relatively short period of time. Originally related to a tech domain, theconcept has now extended across fields as a tool to encourage innovation, creativity, and problem-solving within a short time-frame. This paper is based on the experience of an international sensory science hackathon conducted within the frameworkof the European project SEASONED. A 12-h hackathon was developed to face the sensory-related challenge “The flavors of theworld: new trends. How can we be agile researching new flavor trends in different parts of the world?” All proposed solutionsshould include sensory science methods combined with different disciplines. A total of 26 young researchers with differentbackgrounds and from different countries, organized in 9 teams, collaborated to propose interdisciplinary research methods tostudy flavor trends in different cultures, providing interesting ideas to food or ingredients companies. A diverse panel of speakersfrom various disciplines engaged with participants, enriching the challenge theme with a multitude of perspectives. Beyond thetangible results linked to the challenge, the hackathon encouraged networking, learning, interdisciplinary collaboration, andidea generation. An exit-survey used to collect data from participants proved the high level of engagement and the usefulnessof this kind of activity to stimulate innovative thinking and creativity, learn about sensory science, and promote teamwork andinterdisciplinary research.