A Stu­dent Hac­kat­hon spar­ked a new type of sha­red living expe­ri­ment

By Eri­ka Has­si­nen & Jan­ne Eero­la. Pho­tos by Jos­hua Piip­po­nen. AI has been used in trans­la­ting the article into English. 

This spring in Joen­suu, a two-day hac­kat­hon was orga­nized as part of the “Stu­dent City Joen­suu 1.0” pro­ject. Seven mul­ti­discipli­na­ry and inter­na­tio­nal stu­dent teams took on the chal­len­ge of deve­lo­ping bet­ter sha­red living solu­tions in the city of Joen­suu. 
The best team was awar­ded tic­kets to Ilo­saa­ri­rock fes­ti­val, and their win­ning idea was selec­ted for a pilot pro­ject in col­la­bo­ra­tion with stu­dent housing orga­ni­sa­tion Joen­suun Elli.  

Many of the prac­tical arran­ge­ments for the event were also car­ried out by stu­dents. Pro­ject mana­ger Jan­ne Eero­la acted main­ly as background sup­port and host of the hac­kat­hon. 

– The under­lying goal was to inc­rea­se stu­dents’ oppor­tu­ni­ties to influence topics they find impor­tant in Joen­suu. Eve­ry year, there’s a sig­ni­ficant shor­ta­ge of stu­dent housing, and one area of deve­lop­ment is making sha­red living more att­rac­ti­ve. That’s why we orga­nized an idea com­pe­ti­tion toget­her with Elli and pri­va­te land­lords, see­king new, crea­ti­ve ways to impro­ve sha­red housing, Eero­la explains. 

The hac­kat­hon took place at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Eas­tern Fin­land in April. Over 24 hours, the teams wor­ked on solu­tions for more func­tio­nal sha­red housing. The com­pe­ti­tion cul­mi­na­ted in pitch pre­sen­ta­tions, whe­re teams showca­sed their ideas to a jury.

The Win­ning Team 

The win­ning team was selec­ted by jud­ges from Joen­suun Elli, Busi­ness Joen­suu, and a repre­sen­ta­ti­ve of pri­va­te land­lords. The jury eva­lua­ted the ideas based on fac­tors such as tes­ta­bi­li­ty, inno­va­ti­ve­ness, and sui­ta­bi­li­ty for both Elli and pri­va­te land­lords. 

All teams pre­sen­ted cle­ver and prac­tical ideas. Ulti­ma­te­ly, the jury cho­se Vivu­ni­ty as the win­ner. Team mem­bers Tatia­na and Vale­riya deve­lo­ped a solu­tion for more func­tio­nal and enjo­y­able sha­red living by using an algo­rithm-based tool to match com­pa­tible room­ma­tes. Fin­ding sui­table flat­ma­tes is a major fac­tor in com­for­table sha­red living, yet cur­rent­ly the­re is no wide­ly used effec­ti­ve solu­tion for it.  

Vivunity’s concept also inclu­des an app that helps users find sui­table apart­ments based on room­ma­te pre­fe­rences and sup­ports com­mu­ni­ty buil­ding and advice sha­ring among house­ma­tes. 

The first ver­sion of the idea is alrea­dy being pilo­ted. The team plans to deve­lop a full-fled­ged app based on their idea in the futu­re. 

Posi­ti­ve Expe­riences from Hac­kat­hons 

One of the par­tici­pa­ting teams had also com­pe­ted in the ear­lier Soh­jo Hacks com­pe­ti­tion and won one of the chal­len­ges rela­ted to stu­dent housing — fur­ni­tu­re recycling between tenants. This time, Comple­te — the team of Tayy­ab Farouq Ars­had and Nima Had­mi — came in second place, but both team mem­bers felt that the hac­kat­hons were a great oppor­tu­ni­ty to showca­se their skills and push their ideas forward. 

Other par­tici­pants also found the hac­kat­hon to be a valuable expe­rience. Pet­ri Kei­no­nen, a bio­lo­gy stu­dent at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Eas­tern Fin­land, encou­ra­ges futu­re hac­kat­hons: 

– Stu­dents should defi­ni­te­ly take part in hac­kat­hons, because they offer a chance to network with new people and deve­lop your own ideas—maybe even turn one into a busi­ness, Kei­no­nen sum­ma­rizes. 

Par­tici­pant Mahj­been Ars­hab Abba­si also desc­ri­bed the expe­rience as ins­pi­ring: 

– Hac­kat­hons are an excel­lent oppor­tu­ni­ty for stu­dents to build self-con­fi­dence and cri­tical thin­king. This expe­rience chal­len­ged us to sol­ve real-world problems under time pres­su­re, forced us to col­la­bo­ra­te efficient­ly, and gave us a strong sen­se of accomplish­ment, Abba­si says. 

Tes­ting the Win­ning Idea 

Vivunity’s idea was quickly put into prac­tice short­ly after the hac­kat­hon. Tatia­na and Vale­riya first crea­ted a detai­led ques­tion­nai­re, and based on the answers, they matc­hed sui­table flat­ma­tes using their algo­rithm. 

Joen­suun Elli sup­por­ted the trial by pro­vi­ding one sha­red apart­ment for the sum­mer. Three resi­dents were selec­ted from dozens of applicants using the Vivu­ni­ty algo­rithm. The trio will live in the apart­ment for free until the pilot ends. One resi­dent alrea­dy desc­ri­bes the expe­rience as exci­ting: 

– Joi­ning this pro­gram is a total­ly new and exci­ting expe­rience for me. But once I met my room­ma­tes, all uncer­tain­ties were sett­led. It is very nice to meet new friends, com­mu­nica­te with each other and sha­re our own sto­ries and cul­tu­res. For me, I am expe­riencing an unfor­get­table sum­mer in Joen­suu. And thanks to the Vivu­ni­ty team, they make our living smoot­her and cozier, says one of the resi­dents. 

Tatia­na and Vale­riya stay in con­tact with the resi­dents throug­hout the trial and con­ti­nue to deve­lop their concept based on the tenants’ feed­back. The team has also recei­ved men­to­ring from Busi­ness Joen­suu and was selec­ted to join the Draft ent­repre­neurs­hip pro­gram. 

The goal is to deve­lop Vivu­ni­ty into a wide­ly used plat­form for com­mu­nal stu­dent living in cities across Fin­land, based on the lear­nings from this pilot.