Dormakaba : Teamwork for innovation

From 15 to 17 June 2021, the first AS EMEA Hackathon took place at the dormakaba site in Rümlang (Switzerland). For three days, teams from various business units worked on a self-selected topic. The only requirement: the ideas had to be related to the dormakaba business. After the results presentation to a jury, the winners were selected in the four categories «Overall Winner», «Most innovative idea», «Idea with biggest business value» und «Audience award». Outstanding were the enthusiasm of the development teams and the high standards of their solutions.

At the Hackathon in Rümlang, around 70 dormakaba employees worked in strict accordance with the Swiss Covid-19 measures in groups of 2 to 5 on 18 self-selected ideas. To participate in the event, they had travelled to the dormakaba site from Germany, Austria, Spain and from different places within Switzerland. During the three days of the event, the spirit of development and enthusiasm was clearly noticeable in the old factory hall at the Rümlang site. The teams experimented, developed and programmed their innovations until well into the evenings, so that the most advanced prototypes possible were created for the presentations to the expert jury and online audience on the last day.

To present their solutions, the teams spared no efforts: entire application scenarios were presented with help of PowerPoint slides, Flipcharts and even some acting scenes, door locks and turnstiles were re-programmed and even app integrations were developed from scratch.
The nine-member jury included Sabrina Soussan (CEO), Steve Bewick (COO AS EMEA), Andreas Haeberli (CTO), Stefan Ammann (SVP Region Switzerland AS DACH) and Frank Lorenz (SVP Product Development AS EMEA and organizer of the event). After each presentation, the jury tested the idea with specific and critical questions to check quality and suitability for daily use. Then, they gave their votes in form of points for each category. This is how the winners of three of the categories were chosen. The winner of the fourth category was selected by the audience.

Beside the enthusiasm of the participants, the high standards of the presented solutions despite their early development stage were outstanding. Frank Lorenz, event organizer, says: 'It's incredible how far the teams have been able to convert their ideas into real prototypes in such a short time. Many of the projects presented to the jury show great market potential and will definitely become part of the dormakaba product and solutions roadmap.'

The next goal is to organize the Hackathon on a regular basis to further strengthen the innovation spirit among the dormakaba employees. The organizers hope that in the future, the improved Covid-19 situation will allow participants from all around the world attend the event.

About the Hackathon format

At the Hackathon, employees can work during two and a half days on a self-selected topic connected to the dormakaba business. This can be a challenge from their customers' or their own everyday life, a known problem or a creative idea. The Hackathon offers them room to question the status quo, networking opportunities and the chance to implement their own ideas away from the daily work routine. This allows the participants to move outside of roadmaps and current processes, aiming at developing innovative solutions for customers and markets.