How emlyon’s Innovation Business Game Sets Students Up for Success from Day One
Business school is all about opportunities. The connections, the skill set, and the chance to discover new ways of thinking, to be pushed creatively and academically, and to participate in experiences you may never have encountered otherwise.
This is the case at emlyon business school, where a wide range of master’s programs allows students to home in on their passion and develop expertise that make them assets across industries.
The Master in DSMI is a clear example. With three focused specialization Strategy & Consulting, Data Science & AI Strategy, and Digital Marketing & Data Analytics students aren’t just learning management fundamentals. They’re immersing themselves in the areas that excite them most.
And from day one, that commitment to hands-on learning comes to life through the Innovation Business Game an immersive, high-intensity week that plunges students straight into the realities of innovation.
A Global Path to Paris
The variety within emlyon’s Master in DSMI attracts students from across the world and from a wide range of backgrounds. Yelyzaveta (Liza) Korobka, a first-year student on the Strategy & Consulting track, is a prime example.
Originally from Ukraine, she moved to France three and a half years ago and had to adapt quickly.
“I arrived with zero understanding of French,” she says. “I had to learn it in three months to be able to study at a French university.”
She completed her bachelor’s degree in Normandy, followed by a year-long exchange in Busan, South Korea, where she taught languages and volunteered with community organizations supporting people in need.
As she puts it, “I love presenting, I love analyzing data, and I love talking to people I’ve always had lots of projects going on.”
When choosing a master’s, she knew she wanted to move to Paris for more dynamic opportunities. She was also seeking a program that reflected her strengths: communication, analysis, and strategic thinking.
“That’s how I found the Strategy & Consulting specialization at emlyon,” she says. “It stood out for me immediately it was exactly the combination of things I enjoy.”
A Week That Wakes You Up
The Innovation Business Game takes place in the first week of classes something that surprised many students, including Liza.
“It was the first week of our studies, and they put such a big project in front of us,” she says. “But honestly, it was a good idea it woke us up.”
Throughout the week, mornings are dedicated to the fundamentals of innovation; afternoons are spent applying those ideas in teams, redesigning a product or service from scratch.
“It felt like a real hackathon. Fast, intense, and hands-on,” she says. “We had just four days to create something completely from scratch.”
Teams of four to five students are randomly assigned and given an everyday object to reinvent. The experience tests not only creativity but communication, leadership, and resilience skills that will prove essential in future careers.
“We were working with people we had never met before, so we had to figure out team spirit and organization very quickly,” she adds. “Challenging environments push you forward, and that week did exactly that.”
Reinventing a Product That Already Exists
Liza’s team was assigned glasses. Not the easiest product to innovate, given the length of time since their creation, but the team found room for something genuinely new.
“At first we brainstormed around our own experience with glasses,” she says. “But then we decided to go niche and focus on protective glasses for construction workers.”
They conducted market research, created a detailed persona named “Bob the Builder,” and interviewed a construction worker.
“That interview changed everything,” she explains. “He told us that many people on site haven’t studied engineering or technology. That’s when we realized the glasses needed to be simple, not overly high-tech.”
Armed with that insight, the team developed a new type of PPE eyewear: durable, easy to use, and equipped with innovative safety features. These included an SOS button and a motion tracker that alerts a site manager if a worker stops moving for over a minute.
“We wanted to be the benchmark the product everyone else looks up to,” Liza says. “Our idea was something that doesn’t exist on the market yet.”
Pitching at to a Parisian Innovation Hub
At the end of the week, students travelled to “Le Village by CA” a well-known Parisian innovation hub to pitch their ideas to a jury of consultants, startup founders and industry partners.
“We didn’t know the order,” Liza recalls. “Suddenly they said, ‘Next team is…’ and it was us. We were the first to present.”
Liza’s love of presenting meant the nerves didn’t last long. Their pitch opened with a moment of audience interaction: Liza asked someone to close their eyes, then reopen them, saying, “That’s how important eyesight is.”
“The storytelling carried it,” she says. “Even when the slides weren’t perfectly timed, it didn’t matter.”
The jury asked challenging questions, pushing teams to think quickly and strategically.
“We learned to answer diplomatically, even when we had to improvise,” she says. “It was a moment where everything came together.”
Afterward, students networked with the jury on the terrace overlooking Paris a standout moment for many.
A Glimpse Into the Future
The Innovation Business Game previews the type of work students will do throughout the DSMI master’s analytical, creative, human-centred, and grounded in real-world impact.
For Liza, it reinforced exactly why she came to business school: the opportunity to discover what she’s capable of.
“It was the perfect start intense, inspiring, and exactly what we needed.”