Students and Researchers Transform Winter Darkness with Creative Solutions
Bringing People Together to Spark Creative Innovation
To encourage the creation and sharing of innovative solutions, the Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (ITEE) organised “May the Darkness Be With You” innovation event at the end of November. Tech Hacks focused on innovative uses of technology to solve winter challenges while Life Hacks culminated in clever, practical solutions for everyday winter challenges.
A key idea was to seek opportunities across diverse tech fields — such as automation, digital connectivity, electronics, energy solutions, health technologies, safety systems, smart environments, wellbeing innovations, community engagement, and outdoor technologies.
In total 10 contestants – both teams and individual competitors - pitched their ideas that the jury evaluated based on innovation and creativity, technical functionality, scalability and future potential, learning value, user engagement and presentation - and their linkage to the Star Wars theme (ref. name of the event).
Tech Hacks: Smart Solutions for Cold-Season Problems
The first prize in the Tech Hack category went to Team Coffee Break - 3rd year bachelor’s students Vy Nguyen and Yumish Niroula from Computer Science and Engineering (CSE, DICE) degree programme. “We were trying to fix that small but everyday annoying moment when you’re freezing on your doorstep, juggling keys, or making your friends wait outside because you’re not home yet,” Nguyen and Niroula described their solution. “So, we built a lock that recognizes a simple, randomly generated pose—sent to your phone whenever the door locks—so you can just walk up, make the gesture, and the door quietly lets you in, no digging, no waiting.”
Their concept combined famous Finnish mythical creatures with the Star Wars related elements in a refreshing manner and managed to create plenty of joy among the 120-person audience testing their demo.
Coming well-prepared with an impressive array of carefully crafted components, the duo commented on their event experience. “It was one of those days where you walk in for the event and walk out with people you didn’t know an hour earlier, halfway into real conversations—moving between demo tables, half-finished pitches, and cups of hot chocolate,” Nguyen and Niroula said. “The prizes were fun, sure, but the real win was the chance to talk freely, listen closely, and leave with a few new faces you know you’ll run into again.”
Life Hacks: Creating Connection and Light During Dark Months
In the category of Life Hacks, the victory went to the Faculty of Education and Psychology as Team Chewbacca et al. i.e. Ariadna Vidal Mendoza and Gonzalo Mascuñán Simarro from Master’s Programme in Education for Global Futures received the highest scores from the expert jury.
“In our hack, we aimed to address the loneliness and lack of social connection many people experience during the long, dark winter months,” the winners described. “Our idea focused on bringing adults together, while participating in community activities where anyone can participate. The goal was to offer a space where moments of light can appear during the darkness season.”
The multidisciplinary approach and broad group of participants received praise from Vidal Mendoza and Mascuñán Simarro. “The event was a great opportunity to meet and hear ideas from people of different fields and backgrounds,” the team commented. “It was really interesting to see how everyone interpreted the theme in their own way and brought to life different ideas. We really enjoyed the friendly atmosphere and were really thankful that people from different fields were able to participate and take part.”
Jury’s Favourite: Smart LED Monitoring for Indoor Awareness
The jury surprised everyone with the third prize they handed for Jury’s Favourite. Doctoral Researcher Shalini Madhumali from the Centre for Wireless Communications - Networks and Systems (CWC-NS) received acclaim for her solution “Real-Time Indoor Monitoring with LED Lights”.
“This idea is about smart LED lights that can do more than just brighten a room,” Madhumali explained. “They can sense what’s going on indoors — like movement, occupancy, or changes in the environment and then use lighting to give people helpful information.”
Similar to the other winners, Madhumali has a positive experience at the event. “It was a great opportunity for me to attend the ‘May the Darkness Be with You’ innovation event. I had the chance to meet industry experts, and their positive feedback on my idea was truly encouraging,” she noted. “I also shared my concept with other participants, and many of them agreed that it offers a strong and practical solution for energy management. Overall, the event was inspiring and very valuable for my growth.”
Collaboration, Creativity and What Comes Next
Companies, expert teams and projects also played a key role at the event, sharing insights and showcasing technological solutions. Special thanks go to company partners Bittium Biosignals, iLOQ, Keysight Technologies Finland and Siili Solutions, as well as to GenAI team and Infra-red showcase from the Faculty of ITEE, Art of Darkness Project, Hack Oulu 1.5 team and the Centre for Languages and Communication Lingua for the co-developed Flex Your Finnish game. The event was made possible through the support of the ITEE Student Supporters and volunteers, whose active engagement plays a vital role in fostering a strong sense of belonging within the university community.
You can already start to prepare for the next edition of “May the Darkness Be with You”. Why not mark the 27 November 2026 already in your calendar and start to simmer your ultimate solution for transforming winter coldness and darkness?
The event is realised within IKAPO project, which is co-funded by the European Union and the University of Oulu, Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering.