FOR COMPANIES
(Open until 15.09.2024)
Are you a company facing a challenging innovation task and seeking fresh ideas for new products or services?
Are you a student at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano eager to apply your problem-solving skills to a real-world case?
Then mark your calendar: from February 24 to 28, 2025, the next round of our Students Sprint will take place at 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 who will work together to develop solutions under the guidance of experts and researchers. A panel of experts will select three business challenges and assemble a pool of students. Then we can get started.
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. Your benefits:
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.
The win-for-students:
We are also encouraging you, unibz students from all faculties, to engage with the innovation challenges from companies. Your benefits:
Immerse yourself in the challenges faced by companies.
Gain hands-on working experience in an interdisciplinary team.
Apply your knowledge and skills to solve complex real-life problems, learning to develop innovative approaches and solutions.
Showcase your creativity to participating companies and have the chance to win valuable prizes.
THE 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.
As a company, you quickly gain inspiration from a customer-centred innovation process that leads to a minimum viable product (MVP). As students, you learn from experts and mentors, go through a process from start to finish, and ultimately test the 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 and interview stakeholders and customers.
2
Day 2
Teams begin brainstorming 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. The jury selects a winning team for each innovation challenge.
