01Real challenges
Partners bring genuine problems they cannot solve internally. Teams pick one and go deep.
The format
An innovation sprint is not a hackathon. It's bigger.
A hackathon builds code. An innovation sprint solves a real problem end to end, from spark to a shippable prototype, with a corporate's actual challenge at the centre.
- 36
- hours
- 4
- per team max
- 1
- real case per company
Sprints, not hackathons
From the outside it looks like a hackathon. The difference is what goes in and what comes out.
Hackathon
Innovation sprint
- A generic themeA company's real problem
- Mostly codersBuilders and experts from every domain
- One winning ideaA portfolio of solutions to the same question
- Slides and mockupsWorking demos you can try
- Over on SundayResults and people you can keep working with
The essentials
01
02Curated talent
Builders and domain experts from across Switzerland, not just coders. They pick their own teams of up to four.
03Build, not pitch
Teams ship working solutions you can demo, not slides describing what they would do.
04You pick the winner
A jury reviews what each team actually built. You pick your winner for your case, and you decide what to take forward.
What we mean by a case
Two cases companies brought to a recent sprint, what the winning team built, and what the company said afterwards.
Equans SwitzerlandThe question
How does a public tender become a priced offer, without a week of manual work?
Won by BanTender. From tender to priced offer.
“We deliberately set the bar high. We wanted to go beyond a prototype and build something an estimator could actually work with. What the teams managed to build in just 36 hours went beyond our expectations.”Equans Switzerland · LinkedIn
Inventx × OutceptThe question
Can every bank advisory call be checked for fraud and compliance, instead of a sample?
Won by Sherlock Phones. Swiss German bank calls, checked for fraud and compliance. Self-hosted, no cloud API.
“Swiss German fraud detection sounds like months of development. At sprintd Zurich, 5 teams needed one weekend for it. These approaches are now going into the MVP.”Inventx × Outcept · LinkedIn
Three days, one weekend.
Day 1Friday
Opening. The case partners pitch their problems on the main stage, then sit down with the teams that picked their case for a deep-dive Q&A. Then the build starts.
Day 2Saturday
Continuous build. Many teams work through the night. Partners and mentors float between teams, give feedback, and push them to sharpen what they have.
Day 3Sunday
Final submission in the morning, then team presentations in front of the jury. You decide the solution worth awarding, and the award ceremony closes the weekend.
36
Why 36 hours works
Thirty-six hours is long enough to build something real and short enough to force focus. Teams ship more than anyone in the room expects, partners included. It is hard on sleep, but it fits in a weekend, and under that pressure you see how people really think and work.
What happens after the 36 hours
- 01Right awayYou own what's builtThe working solutions are yours. You leave with code, demos, and a winner you picked, ready to take forward however you want.
- 02AfterThe talent stays reachableThe strongest builders and teams do not disappear on Sunday. Through our community you can re-engage the people who built the thing you liked.
- 03Next timeCome back to iterateA sprint is a starting point. Bring the sharpened problem to the next one and push it further, with everything you learned baked in.
