Solve & Unite! Hackathon: student innovation at UPC

The Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) recently became a hub for collaborative innovation with the Solve & Unite! Hackathon. Driven by students from five universities within the Unite! alliance (UPC, TU Darmstadt, PoliTO, ULisboa, and WUST) and supported by the Seed Fund for Student Activity, the event demonstrated how multidisciplinary teamwork can provide creative solutions to the challenges of integrating exchange students.

Three projects: three approaches to integration

The hackathon concluded with the presentation of three prototypes, each addressing a critical aspect of the international student experience:

• Social connectivity and combating loneliness: The first team addressed the general feeling of isolation among students. They presented a universal digital matchmaking platform designed to help students connect through shared academic contexts, interests, and events. The concept allows students to find relevant peers before even attending activities, fostering a sense of belonging from the very beginning.
• Onboarding and city adaptation: The second group focused on the critical first weeks of adaptation. Their solution featured an interactive city map of events and opportunities based on shared interests and location. The platform was designed to support social integration in a highly practical way while ensuring the total privacy and protection of user data.
• All-in-one gamified support: The third team developed an all-in-one digital platform that addresses the multiple needs of incoming students by combining legal guidance, language support, and social integration tools. To strengthen community bonds even before arrival on campus, they introduced a gamified experience to help students interact in a comfortable, playful, and respectful digital environment.

Student leadership and next steps

The success of the event is proof of the dedication of an international organising team consisting of students from all five participating universities: Kateryna Stepaniuk (TU Darmstadt), José Daniel Vásquez (UPC), Anna Angelone (PoliTo), Dmitrii Zaev and Rúben Matos (ULisboa), and Maksymilian Wojnowski (WUST).

Following the presentations, the project now enters an evaluation phase this May. This process will determine which of these initiatives holds the greatest potential for implementation to improve academic, social, and cultural life across all Unite! partner universities.