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Ideas for e-football from the InnoFlash course

31.3.2025

The InnoFlash week brought together around 40 international students from various fields to work on an esports-themed assignment. Eight teams developed a total of 24 concepts aimed at engaging new members in football clubs through e-football. Each team selected one of their concepts for further development and pitched it to the client at the end of an intensive innovation week.

*During the InnoFlash week, more than a thousand ideas were posted on the sticky note wall*.

Exposure via e-football

The client representative Toni Vikgren stated that the open-ended nature of the innovation challenge made it quite demanding for students. However, thanks to creative ideas and active teams, several viable concepts were developed. Vikgren, who coordinates the collaboration between the esports organization ENCE and the Football Association of Finland, emphasized that the core goal of the assignment was to create a concept that offers football clubs a ready-made, engaging, and activating framework from the perspective of electronic sports.

” Few football clubs know where to start when it comes to esports. “

Toni Vikgren, ENCE

The students participating in InnoFlash week received high praise for their active engagement, even from their lead instructors. Tomi Hiltunen, a senior lecturer in service business at Jamk, commended their enthusiasm in tackling a complex assignment. Despite its challenges, the students approached the task with a positive mindset, benefiting from their shared foundational understanding of esports

Similarly, Eetu Lehtonen, a senior lecturer in entrepreneurship and innovation activities, who also mentored the group, was impressed by how boldly the students took to the field, conducting customer interviews and gathering insights firsthand.

The client representatives were readily available throughout the week to answer questions and provide support. During InnoFlash week, teams interviewed students, club representatives, and junior football players at the pitchside. “The teams have been so eager that we’ve almost had to slow them down. Just give them instructions and let them go!” Hiltunen added.

Different perspectives to football

The intensive week culminated on Friday, March 28, when eight innovations were pitched by the teams to the client representatives from the Finnish Football Association. According to the clients, the three top ideas selected for further development were all well-structured, practical concepts supported by thorough background research.

Vikgren expressed his appreciation for the valuable work done by all teams but noted that the broad scope of the assignment posed challenges in turning ideas into concrete solutions. The top three innovations included an event concept that combines e-football with traditional football, free e-football events for schools and youth centers, and a national e-football tournament system.

*Student Roberts Bukalders presents an innovation related to e-football.*

Jamk students Roberts Bukalders and Joona Piira, who worked on the e-football tournament system, explained that their team approached the assignment by analyzing existing sports and tournament structures.

According to their concept, the e-football ecosystem can scale from small local tournaments with a few teams to national competitions involving hundreds of teams. The goal is to bring together both experienced and beginner players while enabling matches between small-town football clubs and major city teams. At the heart of the concept is also a focus on strengthening community engagement and ensuring accessibility from an economic perspective—after all, an entire team can gather around a single PlayStation, purchased as a one-time investment.

” The concept and structures are already in place. This is about implementing e-football within an existing tournament system and increasing the sport’s visibility from an entirely new perspective. “

Roberts Bukalders

*The clients listened with great interest to the teams’ pitches.*

The winning concept was ultimately chosen based on its practicality. According to Vikgren, the e-football tour for schools and youth centers represented exactly the kind of concrete solution the client was looking for to engage new football enthusiasts. While the other top concepts were also feasible, approaching the topic from a grassroots level—by directly reaching out to young people—was seen as the most effective strategy.

The Finnish Football Association aims to launch a pilot school tour in the Jyväskylä region later this year, working with local clubs and students to activate participation. The goal of the pilot is to create a successful reference model that can then be offered to interested clubs across Finland.

” The key word for the initiative is community. “

Toni Vikgren, ENCE

InnoFlash is a course held five times a year, where first-year students brainstorm solutions in multidisciplinary teams to real development challenges faced by organizations and companies. At the same time, students of Jamk learn the fundamentals of customer-oriented development and teamwork skills.

If you’re looking for fresh ideas and want to tap into students’ creativity, consider becoming a client for the InnoFlash course! InnoFlash applies user-centered thinking and operational models, through which students develop new, creative, and innovative solutions for the client.

For esports-related InnoFlash assignments, you can submit your request through the assignment form available on the CoEsports website.

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