201: How Global Hackathons are Accelerating Sustainable Tech

This week I was delighted to sit down with Ann Molin, CEO & Secretary General of Hack for Earth, for an in-depth conversation on how citizen-led innovation can tackle global challenges. Ann, a psychologist by training, first fell in love with hackathons while working on the Swedish Government’s Hack for Sweden initiative, where she realized that bringing people together to solve open-data challenges could spark powerful, real-world solutions in record time. During our conversation, Ann explained how the Hack for Earth foundation evolved from this initial passion, scaling up to engage over 25,000 participants across 125 countries in building tools aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. She emphasized that these events aren’t just about brainstorming; they’re about bolstering projects after the hackathon ends. Ann’s key insight was that sustainable innovation demands an ongoing acceleration program—complete with the leadership support and psychological safety needed for meaningful impact. We also discussed the Nordic countries’ tremendous success in both innovation and sustainability. Ann pointed out how a strong social framework, combined with a flat organizational culture, empowers individuals to take risks without fear of failure. She described the critical role of storytelling in uniting groups around environmental goals, noting that the most memorable ideas emerge when empathy, narrative, and relationships intertwine. One of my favorite takeaways was Ann’s passionate stance on action trumping endless research. While reading and learning have their place, she believes we can’t just wait around if we want to drive change. If you’re curious about the psychology behind hackathons, the importance of genuine follow-through, or how the Nordic approach to collaboration might help solve today’s toughest challenges, you won’t want to miss our conversation. Let me know what you think!  

Om Podcasten

Did you ever wonder how an innovation got to its finish line? How innovators saw the future, made a product, and created change – in our world and in their companies? I did. Innovation Storytellers invites changemakers to describe how they created their innovation and just as important – THE STORIES – that made us fall in love with them. Come learn how great innovations need great stories to make them move around the world and how to become a better storyteller in the process. I’m Susan Lindner, the Innovation Storyteller. But I wasn’t always. I’ve been a wannabe revolutionary, an epidemiologist at the CDC and an AIDS educator in the brothels of Thailand helping to turn former sex workers into entrepreneurs. Trained as an anthropologist and the Founder of Emerging Media, I’ve spent the last twenty years working with innovators from 60+ countries. Ranging from cutting edge startups to Fortune 100 companies like GE, Corning, Citi, Olayan, and nine foreign governments, helping their leaders to tell their stories and teaching them how to become incredible advocates for their innovations. Great innovation stories make change possible. They let us step into a future we can’t see yet. I started this podcast to shine a light on our generation of great innovators, to learn how they brought their innovation to life and the stories they told to bring them to the world.