Kofola invited students from Czech universities to solve their business problems. She tried new innovation tool – ideathon, in which participants have to develop a solution and present it several intensive hours. The ideathon resulted in ten suggestionsTwo teams entered into follow-up collaborations, one opening up a direction the company hadn't previously considered, and one bringing valuable—if surprising—assurance.
Big company, big topics in a drawer
Kofola Czechoslovak is one of of the largest beverage companies in the regionIn 2025, it achieved EBITDA of 1,82 billion crowns. The group consists of 4000 employees and more than thirty brands – from Kofola to Rajec, Vinea, Semtex and UGO to the traditional brewery brands Zubr, Holba and Litovel.
Along with size, there are issues that need to be addressed, but there is a lack of time, know-how or an outside perspective. Often all of them together. That is why the company decided to look for solutions to its four current challenges together with students from Czech universities. Assistance in compiling assignments, scouting, moderation and premises were provided by Impact Hub.
Four ideathon challenges
- Coffee grounds — Can organic coffee waste (“lógr”) have a meaningful second use?
- Packaging of the future — Do bioplastics make real sense as an alternative to PET packaging in industrial production?
- Sustainable sports events — How to reduce the volume of disposable cups at sporting events, where over 42,000 liters of water are drunk annually?
- A drop of Rajecká Dolina — How to build a long-term public relationship with landscape restoration in the Rajecká Valley in Slovakia?
“We wanted to look at the topics on our table from an outside perspective and with completely unbiased eyes. At the same time, we thought it was great to give students the opportunity to work on real projects and problems from real business.” – David Sommer, Sustainability Manager, Kofola ČeskoSlovensko
200 hours of work in one day
From 58 applications, Impact Hub selected 10 teams combining students from design, engineering, economics, and marketing. A total of 40 participants had 5 hours to develop a solution and present the concept.
Winning ideas
Two of the three rewarded teams addressed the topic Rajecké valleys and the long-term relationship of a person to a specific place in the landscape. Both teams are now entering the follow-up internal workshop with Kofola.
The third solution involved coffee grounds. The student team proposed using bokashi fermentation (Japanese method of home composting, in which biowaste is fermented without access to air) directly in office buildings, cafes and partner offices. No energy-intensive drying or complicated transport of unstable raw materials. The container is replaced piece by piece and the sediment is transformed into fertilizer and other branded products.
“They had something out of the box, but connected to what is used in Kofola. We never thought of applying this solution to this problem.” – Silvie Kovaľ, Project Manager, Kofola ČeskoSlovensko
Not a breakthrough? Also a result
One of the challenges was the problem of disposable cups at sports events sponsored by the Rajec brand, where over 42,000 liters of water are used annually. None of the proposals brought major breakthrough.
"Maybe there really isn't a better solution yet. The students came to the same conclusion as us," says Silvie Koval.
This is a value that is rarely talked about in the context of innovative formats: validation of what the company suspected but had no way to verify. For Kofola, this is a clear signal that there may not be a lot of room for improvement in this area yet. further investments a priority.
Ideathon as part of a functional strategy
A one-day ideathon is not a replacement for a long-term innovation strategy. It is one of its tools – a quick way to find out where a company stands, what workswhere it is worth investing and what to leave alone.
“Ideathon is a format that reaches young minds – heads that have not yet established their own paths. And at the same time, it takes the company out of its daily operations. Short, intense, out of context. That’s when ideas come that the internal team wouldn’t have thought of.” – Alvin Korčák, Impact Hub
"We are considering organizing a longer hackathon in the future. However, we would focus on only one or two specific topics in order to have enough space with the teams to develop these ideas in much more depth and detail." – David Sommer, Sustainability Manager, Kofola ČeskoSlovensko
Ideathon is just one form of what happens every day at Impact Hub: they meet here people, companies and ideasthat would otherwise be missed.
Do you also have challenges that you are looking for solutions to?
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