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The Idéa Boom Hackathon was a great opportunity to work on an innovative project for EDF on how to design the infrastructure for the 2030 Olympics to make it more sustainable and responsible.
After 3 days of brainstorming and design, our team of 7 students came up with a project for an augmented reality fan zone to reduce tourist crowds and avoid the catastrophic effects of transport and temporary overhousing.
Our idea won out over 2 other teams working on the same subject. In this article, you can find out more about the organisation and method used to develop this idea.
The Idéa Boom Hackathon was launched on 21 November. Two and a half days of thinking, creating and learning. The Innovation Factory brought together around a hundred students from different disciplines to develop innovative solutions on one of the five themes proposed by the event’s partners.
The event brought together:
- Engineers from INSA Lyon and CESI
- Designers from École des Mines de Saint-Étienne and La Martinière Diderot
- Managers from Université Lumière Lyon 2, IAE Saint-Étienne and EMlyon Business School
- Architects from École nationale supérieure d’architecture de Lyon
Each problem was addressed by three groups who, over the course of the 48-hour hackathon, were asked to submit a pitch and a mock-up of their solution. These proposals were evaluated by a panel of experts to select the winning team.
Each team was made up of two engineers, two designers, two to three managers/marketers and an architect.
The event was divided into several periods:
- Evening of the 21st: Ice breaker, discovery of the subjects and expertise of each of the team members.
- Morning of the 22nd: Creation of a problem, study of the key points and ideation.
- Afternoon of 22nd: Creation of three or more idea sheets, enabling them to be presented to the other participants and the supervisors to select the best one.
- Morning of 23rd: Refinement of the selected idea, production of a mock-up and drafting of the pitch.
- Afternoon of 23rd: Pitch by the different teams and results.
So I was able to meet my team-mates Júlia Galí (ENSAL), Clément Petiteau, Marc Prétot (INSA Lyon), Jade Schlur (Mines Saint-Etienne), Nathan Chosson (IAE Saint-Etienne) et Emma Rinalduzzi (La martinière Diderot).
We were then given our topic by EDF, as well as the file providing us with the figures to tackle it: How can we think about the infrastructure of the future, for winter games such as the Olympics, on the scale of an area, in order to make it more energy-efficient and sustainable in the service of that area?
The following morning, we began by extracting the key figures and drafting questions to put to the experts in our field. A one-hour question-and-answer session was organised to get a better grasp of the project’s expectations and answer our questions. Once we had all this information in our heads, we were able to launch into the ideation process and start coming up with solutions.
The main issues for the Winter Olympics were the management of transport and its carbon footprint, as well as energy-intensive facilities that were complex to restore after the Games. Another area to explore was revitalising the valleys out of season. We were instructed not to have a budget limit, which allowed us to be creative without constraint.
During this ideation phase, we were able to develop five ideas:
- Techniques
- Development of virtual and augmented reality fan zones, providing a new experience and reducing the carbon footprint associated with travel.
- Recovery of hot water from showers in buildings to heat them.
- Creating data centres in densely populated areas to use the heat produced for housing.
- Reuse of infrastructure
- Development of fully equipped coaching centres for Olympic teams, which can be converted into classrooms or co-working areas.
- Transforming bleachers and other equipment into play areas and skate parks.
Once we had these five ideas down on paper, we were able to present them to the other candidates and experts, who gave us additional information on the feasibility and limitations of our proposals. This exercise also enabled us to practise for the pitches the following day.
At the end of the day, the ideas for a virtual reality fan zone, data centres and buildings heated by shower water were the most popular.
The final morning was a busy one. We had to develop the idea with advice from the different groups, create a mock-up and prepare the five-minute pitch.
So we merged the three most popular ideas, putting the virtual reality fan zone at the forefront. The final idea was therefore to create several fan zones around the world, made up of two parts:
- Fan zones all over the world featuring augmented reality areas where spectators could see and feel through the eyes of the athlete. Imitation movement systems would enable the same sensations to be experienced without having to travel to the event.
- A more traditional fan zone will be set up with a giant screen and a number of stands showcasing French culture.
In terms of on-site infrastructure development, we were thinking of redeveloping residential areas in the valley towns that serve as the crossroads between the resorts. Implementing these fan zones would allow people interested in a particular sport to physically go to the resort, while people who are simply curious could stay close to their hotel and reduce their travel. What’s more, after the event, these facilities could be used to educate tourists about the beauty of the region by creating immersive films from the point of view of various wild mountain animals. The centre could also welcome local residents for multimedia activities such as VR games and VR escape games, revitalising the region by offering new entertainment centres.
Finally, for the new infrastructure created in the resort, we were thinking of placing a data-centre in the foundations to reuse the heat produced, as well as using the hot water from the showers by lowering it into the walls to harness its energy potential. Finally, this water would be filtered and stored for use as snow cannons.We then built a model and wrote a pitch to present our idea.
So three of us pitched our idea to a panel of seven experts and the rest of the event participants. Once the deliberations were over and all the groups had pitched their ideas, all the teams gathered in the first amphitheatre to announce the winning teams. After unbearable suspense, our team was declared the winner of the EDF topic. We each won a €50 gift card (used to buy the Witcher novels on my side).
