IDEAS FOR IMPACT is a 12-hour hackathon designed to find new ideas to solve the world’s biggest problems. The theme for this Autumn event was “HACK-A-HOUSING” and it was all about finding innovative ways to overcome the housing crisis in Cork. 

IDEAS FOR IMPACT Autumn event was run by IGNITE and John Collier with iD Consulting. 

Run over 12 hours, national and international students from a variety of disciplines, level of studies and across the four colleges had to develop an innovative idea that can positively impact the shortage of housing in Ireland. The structure of the day was broken down into sections involving design thinking, business model development, team working and pitching skills, and there were expert mentors on hand to help throughout the day.

There were three teams put together for the day, with the judging panel awarding a prize to each for their innovative ideas. One idea focused on a house sharing scheme to partner with the likes of UCC or corporations to help their community find housing, the second idea involved creating housing communities on vancant land via shipping containers fitted into 3-bedroom apartments, and the third idea was a community banking co-op where members could lend to each other funds to secure property. 

These ideas have the potential to have significant positive impact on the lives of many sufffering from the housing crisis in the years ahead. They have the opportunity to be further developed through supports at UCC and are great examples of what can be achieved through IDEAS FOR IMPACT.