Hyper Island x Miro: A Sprint on AI, Disagreement, and Collaboration

For many Hyper Island students, Miro is already a familiar part of the toolkit. It has long helped teams move from physical Post-its to shared digital thinking.

But this sprint showed something more than that relationship alone. It highlighted how Miro is evolving into a broader collaboration space where humans and AI can work more seamlessly together. In the sprint, students were introduced to Miro’s latest AI functionality and asked to explore how it could support deeper understanding, better dialogue, and stronger outcomes when perspectives differ.

That made this collaboration feel especially meaningful. A platform students already know became the starting point for exploring what collaboration might look like next.

One of the most interesting parts of the sprint was its focus on disagreement.

Disagreement is a natural part of collaboration and healthy team dynamics. But in a moment where AI often mirrors, supports, or agrees with the person using it, there is a risk that something deeply human starts to weaken: our ability to work through differences together.
– Anna Boyarkina, Transformation Leader at Miro

That made disagreement the right challenge.

Rather than treating disagreement as friction to avoid, the sprint treated it as something worth designing for. Students were asked to think about how AI might support not only efficiency, but understanding, empathy, judgement, and better collaboration when people do not see things the same way.

This project was never only about AI. It was about making sure the human stays in the middle of everything.

That meant asking students to look beyond features and tools and instead focus on what makes collaboration work in practice. Critical thinking. Judgement. Empathy. Dialogue. The kinds of skills that become even more important as AI becomes more present in everyday work.

The process itself reflected that thinking. Students explored the brief, defined the value they wanted to create, moved into sketching and prototyping, and prepared to present their ideas within just two days.

Collaboration with external partners is a core part of Hyper Island’s learning approach. Students get to take on real-world challenges while organisations gain new perspectives, ideas, and the opportunity to connect with emerging talent. Hyper Island describes these Learning Partnerships as a way for organisations to work with students on focused projects, broader collaboration packages, or tailored solutions shaped around specific business needs.

That is what makes projects like this valuable on both sides.

Students get to test their thinking in a live context. Partners get fresh ideas and a new lens on a challenge they are actively exploring. And both sides get to work in a space where learning, experimentation, and practical relevance meet.

The Miro sprint is a strong example of what that can look like in practice.

The sprint may have lasted 48 hours, but the questions behind it are much bigger.

• How do we keep collaboration human in AI-supported environments?
• How do we design for better disagreement, not just faster agreement?
• And how do we make sure future tools strengthen, rather than flatten, the human side of teamwork?

These are exactly the kinds of questions that make collaboration between education and industry so valuable.

And this project with Miro was a strong reminder that some of the most useful answers do not come from working alone. They come from bringing different people, perspectives, and disciplines into the room together.

If your organisation is exploring a challenge, a transformation, or a question that would benefit from fresh thinking, explore our Learning Partnerships to see how Hyper Island students can work with you on real-world projects.

You can also explore our YH programmes to learn more about the programmes behind collaborations like this one.

If you’d like to see more from the sprint, you can watch a video from the collaboration here.