News 
In May, the Learning Futures Hackathon brought together nine teams to explore how data accumulated on the shared platform of Finnish higher education institutions could best benefit learners, higher education institutions, and society as a whole. The ideas generated at the event will also support the visionary work for the data platform, which is set to continue in the autumn.
Using higher education data for the benefit of society
The shared data platform of Finnish higher education institutions brings together data on higher education and learners in a completely new way. The platform and its data can be used to develop new types of services and solutions that could, at best, benefit individual learners, higher education institutions, and society at large.
At the Learning Futures Hackathon on 21–22 May 2026, nine teams of students and professionals from various fields developed solutions for leveraging the opportunities offered by the data platform. Over two days, the teams worked with simulated yet realistic higher education data to refine their ideas into functional concepts, supported by the event’s mentors.
The Hackathon culminated in a pitching session to a jury of top experts from multiple fields: Risto Siilasmaa, board professional and investor; Susanna Niinistö-Sivuranta, President of Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences; Mikael “Miklu” Silvanto, Chief Design Officer at Oura and Professor of Practice at the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture; and Ville Voipio, chair of the boards of Vaisala and Technology Industries of Finland.
Nine teams, nine innovative solutions
The teams participating in the Hackathon included a diverse range of expertise, which was also reflected in the comprehensive perspectives offered by the proposed solutions. The teams’ proposals could be broadly divided into three groups:
- Solutions related to the expansion or development of the Opin.fi service, such as personalisation opportunities according to one’s goals or learning habits, methods for assessing the availability of education and training, and using AI to support learning and career development
- Solutions aimed at preventing people from dropping out of education, such as identifying learners’ need for support at an earlier stage
- Solutions aimed at supporting personal career or study paths, for example for career changers, students, or those taking a gap year
The winning team was HEISisters, whose solution “välivuosi.fi” (gapyear.fi) helps learners discover open higher education offerings that they can later include in their degree studies, allowing prospective students to work towards their future degrees even during a gap year. The jury found the solution topical, easy to understand, and feasible.
In addition, team PredictED received an honourable mention for their solution, “Catching Students Before They Fall”, which aims to identify students at risk of dropping out or who need help before their situation becomes acute. The jury praised the solution for its relevance and feasibility.
Development of higher education institutions’ data platform continues – Hackathon solutions support the autumn’s visionary work
The visionary work for the higher education institutions’ data platform will continue in the autumn, with more concrete plans for how higher education institutions could utilise the platform and the types of services it could support.
The solutions created in the Hackathon will also be incorporated into the planning process. The teams’ contributions offer valuable perspectives on what needs the data platform could address and how its potential can be best utilised for the benefit of learners, higher education institutions, and society. The Hackathon’s results will be used as a starting point in the autumn’s planning work and as a basis for future developments.
A big thank you to the participants of the Learning Futures Hackathon, the jury, and our partners!
The event was organised in collaboration with Amazon Web Services, LUMI AI Factory, Solita, HigherEd Hub Finland Oy, and Futurice.