From Setting Up Innovation in a Novel Context To Discovering Sustainable Business — A Framework for Short-Term Events

Short-term events, like hackathons, are commonly applied to innovate on novel subject areas and on ground-breaking technologies. While such events have led to significant successful outcomes for many companies, the big questions facing organisers of these events are: "where do we start?, what should be done towards the hosting of a successful event?, and what should be done when the event is completed?" While several methods and supporting recommendations have been introduced for answering these questions, a common framework for the hosting and management of short-term events is still not available. This is a limitation, as having such a framework would allow organisers to carry out systematic analysis for the subject area, identify the most suitable pre-event analysis and support functions, combine these with the fitting and justified short-term event types, and carry the results of the event to fruitful, sustainable businesses with post-event operations. The opportunity to progress events into business ventures is particularly noteworthy given the rapid changes that are typical in the technology domain, and thus, the need to be both innovative and nimble in responding to such changes and ensuing opportunities. To fill this gap, we introduce an evidence-driven framework for hosting short-term events. Our framework presents several chronological modules coupled together to form a comprehensive, but agile set of practices. A review of the state-of-the-art and a partial empirical trial support the framework’s utility, notwithstanding the need for further work to enhance and trial the framework for organising other events.