A "Silicon Valley of sustainability" and a platform for "matchmaking" between towns and travelers, winning projects of the University of Navarra Hackathon 2025
During Saturday morning, students generated more than 800 ideas to solve different imagining and group Enhol challenges.
PhotoDavidDomenech/From left to right, Laura Rodríguezgroup Enhol); Santiago Hermida (CaixaBank DayOne); Ibai de Miguelgroup Enhol); Francisco Portillo, Luis Neira and Gonzalo Vidal (Ruralia); Anna Barri (imagin); Amaya Vizmanos (Student Innovation Team University of Navarra).
04 | 02 | 2025
On February 3, the Hackathon University of Navarra was held, a competition against the clock where more than 200 students test their innovation skills to solve different challenges. Through an innovation methodology used in Silicon Valley, participants completed different stages of creativity, divergence, validation, prototyping or communication to develop the best project.
The competition was attended by group Enhol and imagin, the leading neobank among young people in Spain promoted by CaixaBank. On the one hand, group Enhol presented its challenge on "how to improve the attraction of talent to its headquarters in Tudela". On the other hand, CaixaBank, through imagin, proposed a "challenge on sustainability aligned with different objectives of sustainable development ".
Finally, the Ruralia team formed by Francisco Portillo, 2nd year language and Literature student; Luis Neira and Gonzalo Vidal, both 1st year language students; Luis Neira and Gonzalo Vidal, both 1st year Biochemistry students. Biochemistry The Greenhol team, formed by Isabella Rosales, 2nd year International Relations; María Andrea López, 2nd year Teaching and Pedagogy; and Nicolás Mariscal, 1st year Medicine; were the winners of the imagine and group Enhol challenges, respectively.
The first, focused on rural depopulation, consists of a platform that connects rural communities and their needs, with travelers who collaborate with them in exchange for different advantages. "It's about matching villages and volunteers in an efficient way. With the financial aid of Artificial Intelligence, we can boost rural development , preserve local culture and transform the way we travel in an authentic and sustainable way," said Luis Neira.
In turn, the Greenhol project proposes an initiative to turn Tudela into the epicenter of investment in green capital in Spain, through the promotion of innovative projects, investment in infrastructure and the creation of strategic alliances with universities and educational centers. "The essence of Greenhol is to demonstrate that, even in small places, there are opportunities to shine and make dreams come true. Even Silicon Valley started out as a farmland," said Isabella.
Next steps
During these months, both projects will enjoy personalized mentoring by the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship of the University of Navarra. In addition, the students of the Ruralia team will have direct access to the national semifinal of the imaginPlanet Challenge, the fifth edition of the competition promoted by imagin and aimed at students from universities and professional training centers who are interested in developing ideas that help combat climate change. In addition, the winning team, chosen among the 10 finalists, will be able to enjoy a stay in Silicon Valley for the incubation of their project and visit companies such as Netflix, Google HQ, Instagram, HP, IDEO, among others.
On the other hand, the Greenhol team will enjoy an experience with the Enhol group during an immersive weekend where they will be able to visit the group 's facilities and enjoy sports activities in the Bardenas Reales de Navarra.
Participating companies were able to gather hundreds of ideas and receive different applications from interns during a workshop "full of energy that exceeded our expectations," said Ibai de Miguel, group Enhol's employee experience manager .
