FOR COMPANIES
(Open until 26/10/2023)
Do you have a tricky innovation challenge and are you looking for fresh solutions for new products or services?
Are you a student at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano and do you want to test your problem-solving skills on a real case?
Then mark these dates in your calendar: From 26 February to 1 March 2024 the next round of our Student Sprint will take place at the NOI Techpark.
South Tyrolean companies are invited to present an innovation challenge they are currently facing.
The Free University of Bozen-Bolzano will form challenge-specific interdisciplinary teams of 3-5 students that will co-create solutions under the mentorship of experts and scientists.
Companies and students are invited to apply, and a committee of experts will choose three business challenges and a pool of students to get started during the sprint.
Challenges
Which challenge would you like to work on?
sta-Südtiroler Transportstrukturen AG
Mobility as a service with usage-based charging.
The aim of this challenge is to provide commuters from the periphery to the urban centres (and back) with a usage-based (not flat-rate) booking, tariff and payment system. The system is intended to provide a significant incentive to travel without the private car as far as possible. In addition to buses and trains, services such as car sharing, bike sharing, park & ride, bike boxes and carpooling should also be included in the concept.
Mila Bergmilch Südtirol gen.u.landw.ges
Fresh milk. The logistics challenge.
Thousands of customers in the Trentino Alto Adige region buy their Mila fresh milk every day. From the cow to the store in 24 hours. What was already an immense challenge for drivers, the cold chain and distribution logistics in the past is made even more difficult by travel time regulations and labor market conditions (employees work 6 nights a week!). Is this enormous logistical effort justified or are there alternatives? Can logistics be organized more efficiently and sustainably? In view of our market success to date, do we in the company overestimate the importance of daily freshness? And finally: how can more efficient logistics be reconciled with the product innovation and communication?
Rubner Holzbau GmbH
Facilities for the urban cyclist of the future.
The ever-increasing use of bicycles as a means of transport brings with it new requirements, especially in cities. In addition to the growing need for bicycle parking spaces (more and more bicycles in the city), there is now also a need to increase the security of parking (increasingly expensive bicycles) and to find places where cyclists can possibly change or store their equipment and do other things. So far, there are only a few examples (the bicycle car park in the Netherlands). Challenge: Cities are not yet prepared for this high degree of bicycle integration. Parking convenience in particular still needs to be significantly improved.
Relevant stakeholders: Those responsible for mobility and urban planners must try to solve the problem.
Users: Cyclists
Why?
For our sprint we need both sides:
Businesses and students.
The win-for-businesses:
We invite you, a South Tyrolean company, to tell us about an innovation challenge you are currently facing.
Get fresh ideas from and collaborate with young talents working in interdisciplinary teams.
Be inspired and motivated to break new ground.
Increase your visibility as an innovative company that thrives on young talent.
If you have a burning innovation challenge, visit this link:
The win-for-students:
We are also encouraging you, unibz students from all faculties, to tackle the company challenges.
Hands-on experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team.
Deep insights into the challenges faced by businesses.
Showcase your creativity to companies and win exciting awards.
Apply your knowledge and skills to real-life, complex problems and learn how to find innovative solutions to them.
If you are a unibz student interested in “real life challenges”, please check this link:
INNOVATION CHALLENGE
Challenge Briefing
Businesses must constantly redefine themselves and adapt their product or service. In doing so, they face challenges in many different areas. To be able to support you as individually and specifically as possible, we have not defined specific topics for the second edition of the Sprint.
Business model, product and/or service? Where do you want to break new ground? Send us your challenge brief!
For more information on possible innovation challenges contact us at:
DESIGN SPRINT METHODOLOGY
Design Sprint
The Google Design Sprint Methodology* is the innovation method we will use during our sprint.
It can produce results in 5 days for challenges that would normally take up to months to solve. Companies are inspired by a customer-centric innovation process that leads to a minimum viable product (MVP).
Students learn from experts and mentors, experience the process from start to finish, and test their product or service with the target audience.
*About the benefits and outline of a Design Sprint as developed by Google Ventures, visit The Design Sprint — GV.
1
Day 1
Teams take a close look at the challenges at each company’s headquarters.
2
Day 2
Teams interview stakeholders and customers, then begin to generate their ideas.
3
Day 3
Teams develop an MVP, a concept for a minimum viable product, service or system.
4
Day 4
Teams test the MVP and get feedback from the target audience.
5
Day 5
Teams pitch their MVP to the companies, experts and invited representatives. For each challenge, the jury declares a winner.
