|
A Story of Experimentation, Insights, and Talking Venue AI  Photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mall_of_Tripla.jpg On September 29th, 2025, Digiole was announced as the winner of the Mall of Tripla Challenge, an innovation hackathon organized by HEVi SOLMU, Business Helsinki, Urban Tech Helsinki, Forum Virium Helsinki, and Ultrahack. For us, this was more than a competition. It was a chance to demonstrate how AI can transform physical spaces like malls into smarter, more connected hubs. Mall of Tripla welcomes over 47 million visitors annually, making it Finland’s busiest retail and transport hub. With 200 shops and 70 restaurants across 85,000 m², it generates hundreds of millions of euros in yearly transactions. Tripla is not just a mall but a city-scale marketplace and experience hub at the heart of Helsinki. From 20+ Applicants to the Top 10 More than 20 companies applied for the challenge, and 10 were selected to join the event at Maria01. Digiole was one of the companies selected to participate in the hackathon. Right after the informative session on Thursday September 25th, we started to plan. We knew we needed to do more than just pitch slides if we wanted to win. We decided to hack the mall itself. Hacking the Mall Using all publicly available information, we built a Talking Venue AI of Mall of Tripla, essentially giving the mall a digital voice. We then created a snapshot of three stores within the Talking Product AI.  Mall of Tripla user interface demo But we didn’t stop at the desk. On Saturday evening, Valto Loikkanen and Oscar Ramirez, co-founders at Digiole, went to Tripla in person. Over three hours (5–8 pm), they spoke to around 45–50 people, including store owners, visitors, and even people at the information desk at Prisma and Mall of Tripla. Armed with a QR code, they invited people to try the mall’s Talking Venue AI and ask questions. The goal was simple: understand what visitors really wanted to know, but typically wouldn’t ask through existing channels. The evening ended over a dinner at the Mall of Tripla, consolidating insights and preparing to translate them into a sharper solution for Monday’s pitch. The Event: From Pitches to the Final Four The hackathon itself was divided into two sessions:
The discussions with mentors and Tripla leaders were crucial. They highlighted key challenges Tripla faces today and helped us refine our value proposition for the final pitch.  Photo courtesy of Ultrahack Why Digiole Won Looking back, a few things stood out in our solution:
As Valto put it: "We connect people with products and services in the physical world, and can be scaled to other malls, farmers’ markets, and even downtown areas."  Photo courtesy of Ultrahack Celebrating and Looking Ahead
Being named the winner of the Mall of Tripla Challenge was a proud moment for our team. But more importantly, it validated that our approach, combining Talking Venue, Talking Products, human-centered insights, and real-world testing, is the right one. We’re excited about the potential next steps and the opportunity to explore how Talking Venue AI can support Tripla and its tenants, especially with the busiest season of the year, Christmas, just around the corner. |
RSS Feed
|
|
|
