48 HOURS OF COLLECTIVE INNOVATION, 48 HOURS OF INTENSE BRAINSTORMING around a digital challenge set by the Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier Occitanie (OONM): that was the brief for the 4th Hackathon at Digital Campus Montpellier, held on 18 and 19 October 2018 on the school's campus.

Following the success of previous editions (Hackathon with BNP in 2015, Midi Libre in 2016 and SNCF in 2017), Digital Campus Montpellier launched this year a major challenge involving 160 of its students (Bachelor intensive programme / Mastère (1st and 2nd year) / Continuing education).

Their challenge: to develop an innovative digital strategy — both technical and subtle — to diversify the audience of the Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier Occitanie. Using the latest digital tools, they demonstrated their creativity in developing an appealing offer for the under-30s.

Learning, sharing and innovating – 18 October. The secret has been closely guarded for months; the time has now come to reveal what has been fuelling student discussions for days: the name of the project sponsor! It was unveiled at 9:00 am with a launch video offering a few clues before revealing the hashtag #HackTonOpéra. Audrey BRAHIMI, Digital Projects Development Manager at the Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier Occitanie, was on hand to deliver the brief and outline the current strategy, the programme, the budget allocated, and more. Adrien ROUXEL, Academic Director at Digital Campus Montpellier, then closed the launch by announcing the two-day schedule, punctuated by coaching sessions and surprises — including a musical interlude by Julien GUILLAMAT, composer in residence at the Opéra, whose work focuses primarily on acousmatic and mixed music influenced by the French musical tradition.
During the day, gathered in teams on the school's campus, the students collaborated in a stimulating and dynamic atmosphere. One of the key objectives was for each team to develop a collective intelligence! The clock was now running: they had just 27 hours to get to know each other (teams were drawn by lot), understand the company's challenge, generate ideas through brainstorming, move into production, and prepare their oral presentation., Jury and prize-giving – 19 October. Supported by digital specialist mentors, the students had 10 minutes to present their recommendations to a prestigious panel of judges on the stage of the Salle Molière at the Opéra.
Team number 8, with their concept 'Are You Opé', won the hackathon. Each team member was awarded a MoonPass giving them access for one year to all concerts and performances in the programme. The audience award went to group number 9 for their Commoonauté! Each member of the group received a concert ticket — the perfect opportunity to visit the Opéra Berlioz and experience its exceptional acoustics!
A huge thank you to the Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier Occitanie for their trust, to our partners and coaches for their expert guidance, to the students for their creativity and determination, and to the jury members for their support: Pascal DUFOUR — Head of Communications — OONM, Avril BARANT — Community Manager — OONM, Audrey BRAHIMI — Digital Projects Manager — OONM, Fabienne ROCHE — Head of Public Relations and Ticketing — OONM, Nicolas BERMOND — Deputy Managing Director — Wonderful, Amélie MALINVERNO — Academic Director — Campus du Millénaire, Sandra TEMPLE-BOYER — Director of Business Relations — Campus du Millénaire, Adrien ROUXEL — Academic Director — Digital Campus Montpellier. See you next year for the 5th edition, taking place on 17 and 18 October 2019!