Abstract:

Active methodologies in higher education are increasingly recognized as effective approaches for fostering entrepreneurial competencies through learning-by-doing and experiential knowledge application. This paper presents an Education Innovation Project based on the integration of entrepreneurship hackathons into university learning as a strategy to connect academic knowledge with real-world challenges in collaboration with industry. Hackathons constitute a transversal educational experience that brings together students from different disciplines, academic levels, and institutions, both local and international, to collaboratively develop entrepreneurial projects, some of which are later implemented.

The traditional one-day hackathon format has evolved into a digital hackathon model, extending over a period ranging from one week to several months and culminating in a face-to-face final event for project presentation. Within this framework, students work in multidisciplinary teams, guided by professional consultants and industry mentors, to design and validate entrepreneurial solutions under real constraints. The Barcelona Digital Challenge, now in its 14th edition, serves as the case study of this education innovation initiative.

To assess the educational impact of this experiential methodology, focus groups were conducted with 138 students who participated in the latest edition of the challenge, complemented by in-depth interviews. Qualitative data was analyzed using NVivo software. Findings indicate that participation in the digital hackathon promoted rapid development of key entrepreneurial competencies, including teamwork, communication, proactivity, and problem-solving, while simultaneously strengthening technical skills through mentored project development. The results highlight the value of hackathon-based learning as an innovative educational approach that enhances entrepreneurship education through experiential and collaborative university-industry learning environments.

Keywords:

Entrepreneurship, competencies, active methodologies, extracurricular engagement, University-industry, problem solving, decision making process, communication, leadership.