West Ham United Foundation Hack hosted together with students in London and Chicago

Future Space hacks teach the discipline of solving problems sustainably by throwing real challenges at teams of students and taking them through a process to generate and test their ideas. This time the problem came from West Ham United Foundation who proposed the challenge of finding new ways to raise revenue through its activities. Those taking part included students from across Loughborough University London's Institute for Sport Business and those from DePaul University Chicago.

Loughborough University London and DePaul staff have been collaborating on practical entrepreneurship activities, and as faculty and students from DePaul would normally make an annual visit to London, the virtual hack enabled them to connect and internationalise the student experience from their own homes.

Over the two hour hack the teams learned how to rapidly analyse the needs of a client and quickly generate and test their ideas to provide solutions. They developed their teamwork skills and were able to gain skills and experience in pitching their ideas. As well as developing their ideas the teams got to meet and network with students from around the world.

Dominic Edwards, Coach at West Ham United Foundation said:

"As a proud alumni of Loughborough University it was great to come along and hear ideas from such a multi-disciplinary group. The winning idea was really simple and a tangible thing I could take away to see if we could action."

One of the DePaul students commented, "I found this workshop to be one of the most fun aspects of our virtual study abroad. I loved meeting the people at Loughborough and found them to be extremely kind and welcoming."

Ben Cole Head of Strategic Projects and Future Space said:

"This super quick hack was a great way for our students to meet and work on a really interesting challenge from West Ham. It was also great to connect our students to those studying at DePaul in Chicago to further increase their networks in the international business of sport."

As an additional bonus, all students from Loughborough University London were able to count their involvement against the Future Space Personal Best London award. The award supports and recognises students personal and professional development as they study at Loughborough University London.