Academic research projects often face challenges when trying to deliver innovation in a fast and creative way. In particular, projects of multidisciplinary nature that look at cross domain aspects applied in industry may take longer to expect. This paper addresses such an issue in the area of low cost digital solution development and proposes an approach using student hackathons as a mean to enable rapid prototypes of low cost digital solutions for manufacturing SMEs. It highlights how these fast-paced activities could be seen as additional options to help students foster technical and soft skills ahead of working in industrial environments.