Interfaces in Project-Based Innovation Governance: Can Hackathons Hack into Policy Processes?

An emerging trend in the public sphere is to use a system of hackathons and accelerators originating from the digital entrepreneurship to quickly and creatively nurture collaborative projects to tackle societal problems. To induce institutional change, these projects need to engage with the public sector organizations. While the literature of projectification has emphasized the embeddedness of projects in policy networks, the mechanisms of interaction between projects and permanent organizations have been poorly studied. These mechanisms are more important given the heightened tempo of digitally inspired project development tools. In this chapter I conceptualize the mechanism of interaction as interfaces. I argue that the main functions of interfaces are to provide suitable cognitive and organizational distance for creativity, create arenas for developing legitimacy of new ideas, and ensure flexible channels for knowledge management. Empirical study of a forestry-related hackathon project in Estonia supports the argument that although digitally inspired project governance tools are indeed capable of producing promising disruptive ideas, their eventual impact depends on how interfaces position them vis-à-vis the larger policy network.