What is Power Up?

The UK economy has proven its resilience many times throughout history. But we cannot take this ability for granted. It is critical that the UK remains competitive, that we retain our strength in innovation, and that we develop and attract the skills our economy needs so that we can achieve inclusive growth.

The Power Up series explores the critical challenges facing business, UK government and wider society. Using insights and analysis, the series looks at the pragmatic actions we can take to make a difference now, and power up the future ahead - to ensure the UK remains globally competitive, as an attractive and inclusive place in which to do business today and tomorrow. For each research piece in the series, we’ve developed a short story to bring the key findings to life and help you identify the actions your business should take. Explore the challenges through our stories and dive into the detail at any point for deeper insight into these critical issues.

If you’d like to find out more about the Power Up series or how we are experimenting with new ways of bringing insight to life, please contact Jo Ouvry, Director of Corporate Affairs at Deloitte or Jemma Venables, Head of Innovation and Corporate Insight at Deloitte.

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Hackathon

What is the deal?

Multi-disciplined teams compete against each other to solve a challenge in return for prizes.

Best for:

Developing a usable prototype and introducing practical innovation.

Works best when:

The business has a clear challenge to solve which requires capability not available in-house. The prize needs to be sufficient to attract strong talent.

Reality check:

A hackathon generates ideas but often there is not sufficient impetus to convert the ideas in to a sustainable solution.

Reality check:

A hackathon generates ideas but often there is not sufficient impetus to convert the ideas in to a sustainable solution.

Key implementation steps include:

Offer a sufficient prize to attract high quality teams. This can include a mixture of prizes, cash, job interviews, exposure to senior management, etc.

Define specific goals and parameters.

Have a plan for who should participate (i.e., anyone, internal/external to the company, employees only, strategic partners, etc.) and whether individuals need to join already in teams or will be allowed to form teams at the beginning.

Accelerator

What is the deal?

These are short (three- to six-month), cohort-based programmes that provide seed funding and intensive mentoring and training for startups.

Best for:

Ambitious early stage startups who want support (funding or otherwise) to grow quickly.

Works best when:

The interests between the startups and their ‘host’ are aligned. Hosts should be able to offer insight from their knowledge and experience in a related field to help startups improve their proposition and business model appropriately.

Reality check: Relatively few accelerator programmes produce successful, sustainable businesses.

Key implementation steps include:

Create a decided area of focus.

Market effectively to recruit strong talent.

Build strong founding teams.

Ensure resources are available for testing, development, mentorship, etc.