Boosting the circular transition (BSR BioBoosters)

From November 30 to December 1, as part of the Baltic Sea region project "BioBoosters", the final stage of the Latvian pilot hackathon "Aloja Starkelsen" took place - a team competition in the development of a solution, in which the Finnish, Internationally operating software company "Pinja" won with the most suitable offer.

For two days, in cooperation with mentors, five internationally selected teams, both in person and remotely, actively worked on solving the challenge, and also visited the production facilities of "Aloja Starkelsen" Ltd to get to know the company, its operating principles and needs for the CMMS system. All the selected teams showed excellent results by developing suitable offers for the needs of "Aloja Starkelsen" Ltd, but in active discussions, involving the hackathon jury and mentors, the offer of "Pinja" was recognized as the most suitable - this team was declared the winners of the "Aloja Starkelsen" hackathon.

“First I would like to thank great professional mentors for their feedback and help during hackathlon. We know that we can offer “Aloja Starkelsen” a great product based solution to solve their challenges as well as partnership with their leadership for building state-of-the art maintenance operations. It seems that they have very ambitious, skilled and co-creative people working in the company, which is a good start for common successful CMMS journey. We feel glad for winning the Hackathon and honoured onboarding “Aloja Starkelsen” among our group of international customers already served in 30 countries accross the world said Eppu Kuusela, Sales and Key Account Manager of "Pinja”.

The authors of the challenge and technical director of "Aloja Starkelsen" Ltd, Jānis Blaumanis did not hide the satisfaction with the positive experience, the progress of the hackathon and the solution obtained: "The hackathon, where CMMS system solutions were sought, was very successful. The participants came up with really good solutions and creative ideas. The event was a great opportunity for everyone to learn new things and network with other industry professionals. The winning team "Pinja" presented the most complete and, in our opinion, the most suitable solution for us - it was well thought out and demonstrated a deep understanding of the problem. They were able to offer a solution that was both practical and innovative. Overall, the hackathon was a great success and we hope that all participants and mentors gained a lot of new perspectives for the future.”

In total, nine teams applied to participate in the "Aloja Starkelsen" hackathon, of which five were selected - three from Latvia (VITCAKE Ltd., SIA 7Lines, AllDevice official representative in Latvia SIA Filter) and one each from Germany (Fraunhofer IGP) and Finland (Pinja).

“Aloja Starkelsen” hackathon is part of the international BioBoosters project co-funded by the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme. The project brings together nine innovation networks in the bioeconomy sector from countries around the Baltic Sea: Finland, Sweden, the Baltic States, Poland, and Germany. The project organizes 18 Hackathons to support responsible business practices and the transition to a circular economy for bioeconomy companies.

More information about the “Aloja Starkelsen” hackathon: https://ej.uz/d5k8

Hackathon is organized in cooperation with:

The "BioBoosters" project was launched in January 2023, it is implemented by partners from Finland, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The project will last three years and its total budget is 2.8 million euros. The project is co-financed by the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Program.

More information about the project: http://www.vidzeme.lv/lv/projekti/pareja_uz_aprites_ekonomiku_baltijas_juras_regiona_bsr_bioboosters

Information was prepared by: Krista Blūma, Public Relations Specialist at Vidzeme Planning Region, krista.bluma@vidzeme.lv, 26673396