This year, the Global DigitalHack at UCL MBA featured four dynamic teams that developed innovative, future-focused solutions with real-world relevance.

Now in its fourth consecutive year, the AMBA award-winning Global DigitalHack (Cooray and Duus, 2020) is a high-impact, virtual innovation challenge that brings together seasoned practitioners, UCL MBA students, high-performing young professionals, and academic faculty. Designed by Dr Rikke Duus and Dr Mike Cooray, the DigitalHack enables diverse, cross-industry teams to rapidly co-create implementable solutions to complex societal and organisational challenges.

Each team, not only, created a robust conceptual framework to guide innovation, but also designed concrete solutions, applying them to selected organisations to stress-test their viability. Through this process, they outlined clear, staged approaches for launch and implementation, demonstrating both strategic thinking and practical execution.

The 2025 theme, “Truth, Trust and Transparency: Futuring Better”, set the tone for a day of bold thinking and collaborative problem-solving. This year’s theme challenged teams to adopt a futuring mindset by looking beyond the present to envision multi-partner solutions that reimagine future systems and services.

Participants from leading organisations, including Microsoft, Gartner, TikTok, Burberry, The Telegraph, Hydralab, Nordisk Film, Molson Coors, Reliance Bank, NHS, TerraCycle UK, OPEN Technologies, Thrive Consulting, Maran Gas Maritime Inc., and Wigan Council, joined forces in a fully virtual environment.

The interdisciplinary teams followed a structured innovation process called STRIDE (Cooray, Duus, Sylvestersen, and Carmichael, 2022), guiding them through seven progressive Acceleration Tasks. The DigitalHack uniquely integrates digital and AI-enabled tools to accelerate data analysis, horizon scanning, ideation, framework development, and partner ecosystem design that lead to real-world solutions.

In an increasingly fragmented and insular world, where political and strategic boundaries have become more rigid, the DigitalHack is an exemplar for enhancing international collaboration and cooperation, offering a platform for shared global perspectives. It also highlights the urgent need for a new generation of dynamic leaders who not only understand complex challenges, but can also leverage digital systems, AI-led solutions, and cross-functional expertise to drive meaningful, systemic change.

Too often, organisations rely on simplistic idea-generation processes and label them as “innovation,” resulting in underwhelming outcomes. Many senior leaders lack the deeper knowledge or capability to lead structured innovation efforts that address real-world challenges. The DigitalHack counters this trend by offering a rigorous, structured, and collaborative innovation process that delivers viable, high-impact solutions.

Cross-industry teams innovate together

Team “Community Champions” consisted of senior digital leaders from Wigan Council, TerraCycle and Reliance Bank, representing extensive experience in designing and delivering citizen services and using digital systems and technology ethically. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs projects a global population of 2.1 billion people aged 60 years and over by 2050, accounting for 26% of the global population.

Taking an ecosystem-based approach, the team proposed a trusted, digital platform designed for older adults, offering personalised support through voice-activated devices. It connects users to healthcare, wellbeing, and community services, while learning their needs to provide tailored guidance and reminders. Built on transparency and inclusion, it integrates with NHS and council systems, supports accessibility, and empowers users to manage daily life confidently. Backed by a strong network of public, private, and community partners, it promotes independence and digital inclusion.

Team “Health Hackers”, consisting of senior leaders from the NHS, OPEN Technologies, Maran Gas Maritime Inc. and McGill University, tackled the challenge of advancing cardiovascular care through a preventative, data-led, and predictive approach to healthcare delivery. Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death globally, taking an estimated 17.9 million lives each year (World Health Organisation, 2021).

The team proposed an AI-powered digital health initiative that delivers predictive cardiovascular health scores through a user-centric platform, connecting patients and healthcare providers. Operating outside, but in collaboration with the NHS, it integrates data from wearables, NHS systems, and other sources to improve prevention, transparency, and real-time risk detection. Features include personalised health profiles, telehealth access, behaviour tracking, lifestyle nudges, geolocation prompts, and gamified rewards. Supported by partners across government, tech, and healthcare, it enhances data use, speeds up care access, and empowers users to take control of their health.

Team “Truth Transformers”, who introduced the Independent Global Platform, consisted of senior leaders from Nordisk Film, The Telegraph, Hydralab and Molson Coors. In a world where the truth is behind veneered glass, the consortium-led digital platform verifies publishers and supports content creators across news, documentary, film, journalism, podcasts, and photography. 72% of people consider ‘transparency’ a key factor when choosing which news outlets to trust (Nielsen and Fletcher, 2024).

The Independent Global Platform uses a multifaceted, multidisciplinary verification system by combining AI checks, crowd-sourced validation, and expert review from scholars and scientists to ensure the credibility of content. Real-time content is certified with Verified Truth Badges (VTBs), which can be displayed across platforms via APIs to signal trustworthiness and transparency.

The platform is not owned by tech giants or controlled by governments, preserving its neutrality and integrity. It promotes diverse voices, unique storytelling, and global reach, with backing from creators, NGOs, scholars, philanthropists, and tech partners. A transparent verification process, including shared sources and checklists, reinforces its commitment to truth, quality, and the future of trustworthy media.

The DigitalHack 2025 winners, Team “Workforce Warriors”, were represented by experts from Burberry, Microsoft, Gartner, TikTok and Thrive Consulting who embarked on addressing the challenges of attracting, engaging and retaining the next-generation workforce. Across the world, 62% of employees report not being engaged at work (feeling unattached to their jobs and company) (Gallup, 2025).

The proposed Enterprise Hub Concierge is a real-time enterprise tool designed to drive organisational efficiency, growth and wider engagement. Through enabling multi-partner cooperation and participation, the Enterprise Hub Concierge delivers personalised support, ranging from training and wellbeing to mentoring, project matching, and onboarding, tailored to each employee’s needs and goals.

By integrating strong data governance and role-based access, it builds trust while enabling leaders to align talent with strategic priorities, such as skills development, career progress and retention. The platform helps organisations discover new ways to build a highly motivated and skilled workforce across on-site, remote, and hybrid environments. Critically, it supports flexible engagement, tracks development, and fosters a connected, inclusive culture regardless of where employees work, ensuring that every individual can thrive and contribute effectively.

A scalable model for future-focused innovation

Over the past four years, the DigitalHack has focused on addressing grand challenges affecting organisations, communities, and society at large. In 2024, the DigitalHack explored how AI can be a catalyst for change and in 2023, multiple teams looked at how digital health technologies can transform healthcare delivery through ecosystem collaboration. In 2025, the focus sharpened on the importance of innovation and value creation within the spheres of truth, trust, and transparency; principles essential for navigating a complex, interconnected world.

Another standout feature of the DigitalHack is the involvement of young UCL graduates, aptly named “Digital Pioneers.” These high-performing recent graduates play a vital role in supporting the Hack teams by enabling the use of digital tools, helping articulate insights within the STRIDE framework, and producing dynamic outputs shared in real time via the DigitalHack Hub.

The DigitalHack, pioneered and continuously enhanced by Dr Rikke Duus, is more than an event; it’s a proven methodology that delivers value, not only, to executive learners like UCL MBAs, but also to organisations seeking rapid, structured innovation with tangible, implementable outcomes.

References

Cooray, M., & Duus, R. (2020). Why hackathons aren’t just for hackers. Harvard Business Publishing Education, August.

Cooray, M., Duus, R., Sylvestersen, M., & Carmichael, J. (2022). Let’s STRIDE towards UN SDG-led innovation. The European Business Review, Jan–Feb Issue.

Nielsen, R. K., & Fletcher, R. (2024). Public perspectives on trust in news. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2024/public-perspectives-trust-news

United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. (2024). World population prospects 2024. https://population.un.org/wpp/

World Health Organisation. (2021). Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). World Health Organisation. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cardiovascular-diseases-%28cvds%29

About the author

Dr Rikke Duus is an Associate Professor at University College London (UCL). Her research focuses on digital and AI transformation, future skills, and collaborative ecosystems for value creation. Rikke also works with the European Commission to develop insight, guidelines and recommendations in the areas of digital skills and AI, hybrid learning, and education futures.

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