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The elderly and AI may seem worlds away, but with the 60+ year old population doubling by 2050, we need new scalable innovations to support the aging population. And that is the challenge Aalto set for teams to tackle at this year’s Junction hackathon, themed around AI.

When 1,500 hackers representing over 100 nationalities gathered at Hype Areena in Espoo for the tenth-anniversary Junction, the energy was palpable. In just under 48 hours, participants built 291 projects collaborating with over 40 partner companies, and proved once again the power of rapid, creative innovation – now superpowered with AI. Amid this whirlwind, Aalto University showed up in full force: not just as a challenge partner, but through the hundreds of Aalto students who spent the weekend both hacking and organizing the event.

Aalto’s challenge “Aging with AI” asked hackers to rethink how artificial intelligence could support 65+ adults in staying healthy, socially active, and independent at home, all while keeping ethical awareness front and centre. The goal wasn’t to replace human interaction but to enhance and support it.

The challenge was brought by the Aalto R2B team AR4U, Timo Niskanen, Silas Rech and Gautam Vishwanath. They are developing a voice-controlled AI assistant to help older people live safer independently through for example medication reminders and daily wellness check-ins. Joining Junction, the team was excited to share their research with a wider audience as well as gain new perspectives on the problem they are solving.

 “The scale of the event was incredible! We could learn a lot from the speed of building, it was amazing how quickly participants executed meaningful projects,” Timo, the business lead of their project, said.

After an intense weekend, the team Tommin Teekkarit, Alex Kozorenko, Risto Hartikainen, and Juuso Syrjälä, took home the challenge prize with their idea ApprenticeCircle+. It is a voice-first social platform that pairs seniors and young adults around shared learning experiences. At the core of the idea is removing digital friction by creating user profiles through a simple 10-minute phone conversation, making it accessible to users of all technical comfort levels.

The idea started to build from the team’s own lived experiences. “We have thought a lot about the anxiety youth face as they are rushed into working life. Meanwhile, there’s so much learned knowledge in older adults. Could we tap into that potential?” Alex explained. When researching the idea, they also found out about the many crafts that are a risk of being completely lost due to skills not passing down to new generations. Once the team saw this opportunity for a focus, they got really excited and started hacking away.

While this was everyone’s first hackathon, working together was not new for the three: Alex, Juuso and Risto have gotten to know each other through working together at Aalto IT. With laughs, the team revealed afterwards that their team name was actually a nod to their beloved supervisor, Development Manager Tommi Saranpää. The common work history proved helpful as they embraced the intense hackathon pace successfully. “The vibe was amazing, everyone working so hard in such a short time!” Juuso said.

Risto added that discussing the concept with Aalto researchers was a great opportunity. Those conversations helped the team refine their idea and understand how it could matter to both user groups, becoming a key driver for the project. The Aalto mentors were equally excited and impressed. “I didn't know what to expect, because this was my first hackathon, but seeing the students’ passion to build and eagerness to bounce ideas with us was the most inspiring part”, reflected Silas. Gautam added that one of the highlights was seeing how many young people chose the challenge because they wanted to tackle societal problems.

ApprenticeCircle+ stood out among the almost 30 impressive project submissions with their focus on building social connections outside of the immediate family and the thoughtful implementation of that idea into the prototype.

What began as “just a hackathon project,” the students admitted, was already turning into something they are thinking of building further. Thinking out loud, they juggled ideas for futher development and how collaborations could help bring the app to all users who might need it – and launched an enthusiastic discussion with Timo and Gautam about the different opportunities they could help with. Maybe this isn’t the last we hear from this. ApprenticeCircle+ may have started as a hackathon project, but it highlights something much larger: a much-needed bridge between generations, preservation of culture, and a glimpse into how technology could enrich human lives.

Junction was once again a testament to what can happen when researchers and students meet. By combining research insight with new creative points of view, we can turn big societal questions into practical, human-centred solutions. And providing spaces where students and researchers can learn from each other and push ideas further together matters.