The Bilbao office organises a hackathon dedicated to human rights

Today we celebrate International Human Rights Day and, at Zabala Innovation, we do so by focusing on applied social innovation. Yesterday, the team at the Bilbao office held an internal hackathon designed to imagine solutions to improve life in the city from different angles: housing, social and labour inclusion, sustainable tourism, a just ecological transition, health and well-being, and citizen-centred digital transformation.

The dynamic, which brought together twenty-five people, was structured into five multidisciplinary teams, each assigned a specific challenge. The shared goal: to transform a complex urban problem into an innovative proposal capable of becoming a public policy or a business model with social impact.

An afternoon to innovate through action

On 9 December, we met at the Bilbao headquarters to turn human rights into a practical exercise in creativity and experimentation. The session, led by Alejandro Nava, Head of Culture, and Silvia Agrafojo, leader of the Social Innovation area in European projects, combined agile methodologies with collaborative work in a hackathon format adapted to our daily routine.

In this edition, there was no prior voting: each team received an assigned challenge aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals and with Bilbao’s social and urban priorities. The five areas of work were:

• Decent housing
• Technological inclusion at the service of citizens
• Sustainable tourism
• Health and well-being in inclusive cities
• Just ecological transition

Split into different rooms, the teams immersed themselves in an intense process that combined analysis, co-creation and communication.

Agile methodologies to generate impact

For an hour and a half, each group advanced through the five phases defined in the hackathon methodology:

• Problem mapping
• Stakeholder mapping
• Individual and collective brainstorming
• Definition of a proto-idea
• Preparation of the elevator pitch

The purpose was clear: to reach an innovative and viable solution with transformative potential. In just a few minutes, the ideas evolved from initial concepts to fully structured proposals, identifying beneficiaries, expected impact and key actors.

The session concluded with each team presenting its proposal to the rest of the office in a brief, dynamic format. Despite the limited time, all five teams offered realistic and creative solutions that highlight issues such as equal opportunities, community health, inclusive digitalisation and fair ecological transition.

The value of collective innovation

Beyond the ideas generated, the hackathon strengthened collaboration among diverse profiles at Zabala Innovation. These dynamics help us explore new ways of working, deepen methodologies used in European and national projects and continue developing capabilities in social innovation.

As Agrafojo highlights: “Social innovation is built on collaboration, listening and experimentation. Seeing the team transform complex challenges into real opportunities demonstrates the power of working together for positive impact.”

The event also reinforced the Bilbao office’s commitment to the values that inspire this day: equality, dignity and justice. A tangible way to remember that innovation plays a crucial role in defending and promoting human rights.

Do you want to know how we approach social innovation at Zabala Innovation? Discover our projects and approaches in our Social Innovation section.