Twenty Innovation Champions
"It looks like X Factor", a jury member jokingly says while sitting behind a desk, facing the contestants. He's not here to judge voices and songs, but ideas. Plenty of ideas. On Thursday, 11 December, the winners of the TIM Graduate Contest were announced at SDA Bocconi School of Management's X-perience Lab. Students of the MSc EMIT's Technology and Innovation Strategy course were given a challenge two months ago by Telecom Italia. One hundred contestants were divided into twenty groups. Each team was given five minutes to do a pitch presentation in English, as in a venture capital contest, and two minutes more to answer questions from Telecom Italia managers.
Teams were facing off on one of the following subjects: Innovation & Business Model or Innovation & Regulation. In the former category, they had to devise digital services or solutions that require an extensive use of the net. Contestants conceived mobile payment solutions, domotics, multiservice apps, even a system that allows remote control of street lights, with lamps providing wi-fi access. In the latter category, they had to develop an innovative project tackling the asymmetry of rules in the digital market that generates uncertainties. Teams suggested that Telecom invest in digital health solutions, traffic management techniques, cloud based services and big data.
Students had three weeks to identify a project dealing with what Carlotta Ventura (Group Senior Vice President Brand Strategy & Media at Telecom Italia) called "strategic tasks for our company". Before developing it, they submitted it to the evaluation of Telecom managers. It wasn't only a matter of creativity. The best projects were solid in terms of implementation and economic sustainability. Two groups were proclaimed winners for each subject and invited to #WCAP, TIM's accelerator in Milan. Forty percent of the final grade will be determined by the contest.
"The experience had important added values", Verona says. "Students were able to apply theories, an essential thing in a Master of Science. Secondly, there was a great deal of creativity and innovation. Students faced questions still unanswered. They have ventured into the unknown, so to speak, and produced ideas that can be useful also to Telecom. Furthermore, they understood how important teamwork is. Dealing with managers with a selective attention helped them to develop soft skills that are essential in the business world".
Innovation & Business Model winning teams: Prometheus' Revenge (Jasmine Comi, Serena Scorza, Davide Venegoni, Massimo Venegoni, Manu Sharma); Green Team (Federica Guerra, Giulia Bessi, Giacomo Malandrino, Alessandro Bruni, Alessandro Giovanelli).
Innovation & Regulation winning teams: Contimgency (Arne Huttenbrink, Larissa Habbel, Irene Milani, Sussan Nadine Schneider, Thilo Bohm); iGroup (Marta Maria Caputi, Enrica Fracasso, Tommaso Meroni, Lorenzo Saibene, Tommaso Stucchi).
Projects were judged by Gianmario Verona (TIM Chair in Market Innovation), Alessio Cozzolino and Paola Zanella (PhD students in Business Administration at Bocconi University), Carlotta Ventura (Group Senior Vice President Brand Strategy & Media at Telecom Italia), Claudio Contini (Telecom Italia Digital Solutions CEO), Maria Enrica Danese (Telecom Italia Head of Relations with National Authorities), Ida Sirolli (Telecom Italia Head of Research & Education), Amelia de Rosa (Telecom Italia Head of Partnerships and Research). TIM, managers and Bocconi students tweeted using the hashtag #TIMChair.