By Louise Karin Hansen, AAU Communication and Public Affairs. Translated by LeeAnn Iovanni, AAU Communication and Public Affairs

The banking sector faces a major challenge in motivating young people to plan for retirement from an early age and help them find the right solutions. Therefore, the mission was to revolutionize and rethink existing pension solutions when more than 100 students from Aalborg University (AAU) gathered on Friday, 6 October at AAU Innovate for the Fintech Hackathon.

Spar Nord and Trifork set the challenge which required the participants not only to see the opportunities offered by new technologies and trends, but also to educate the next generation about why pension savings are important. So, collaboration across different disciplines where different perspectives could contribute to finding different solutions was needed.

- We’re taking part because we want to support the students in developing their ability to think broadly and prepare them for the interdisciplinary collaborations that await them in the future. We’re impressed by the students' academic skills in collaborating across disciplines and thinking innovatively, says Nikolaj Andersen, Digital Manager at Spar Nord.

SSH and STEM integration in AAU's degree programmes

In Fintech Hackathon and six other pilot projects, selected degree programmes will test concepts for the integration of SSH and STEM competences during the autumn of this year. During spring 2023, the Institute of Advanced Study in PBL held workshops to prepare SSH and STEM pilot projects and form partnerships across degree programmes.

The collective experience of the seven pilot projects will underpin the full implementation of the strategy effort on integrating SSH and STEM competences in AAU's study programmes, which will start in spring 2024. The aim of the strategy effort is that students, in addition to their own in-depth expertise, are able to collaborate across disciplines and solve complex problems in a holistic manner.