International MBA students 2020 Hackathon

Every year the International MBA cohort participate in a Hackathon which is designed to teach the participants to collaborate to create and deliver a quality product in a short amount of time. They work intensively on a particular problem over 2 days – this year the topic was to find an innovative service fitting the needs of poor elderly people in France, including a viable business model. The course pushes their creative and problem solving skills to the limit and help the participants learn how to provide innovative solutions, taking into account all stakeholders. With the current confinement restrictions put in place in France to decrease the spread of COVID-19, this project was conducted 100% online, a new challenge for the participants! It allowed them to experience working on a project remotely, something which will be more common in the future. Two current participants wrote about their experience during the Hackathon: This 2 days Hackathon project has a special significance during the confinement period of the COVID-19. It aims at helping elderly to improve the quality of life by gaining independence while benefiting by engaging in social-economic infrastructure. This in-class Hackathon experience has demonstrated tools, frameworks and overview of businesses operation and evaluation. Team members have strengthened bonds by open communication, transparency and inclusion. Specifically, our team of 4 participants have started the project by implementing Design Thinking and interviewing elderly people around the world. This permitted us to reveal valuable customer insights on how we should scope our project. The online Hackathon sharing space facilitates cross team collaboration of the whole cohort. We developed a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), a digital wall for elderly to stay connected to their family by sharing photos, videos and articles through any digital devises. It allows all of us to stay close to our loved ones even during the period of confinement. Wen Marquez - China The terms "design thinking", "service design", "user experience" are used more and more. Schools and business institutions are increasingly using designers, facilitators or collective intelligence experts and projects are designed in cooperation. Customers or users are placed at the center of these new approaches and new tools are created, sometimes with creative names: ideation workshops, hackathons, prototypes, personas, etc. These new practices generally correspond to a strong need to innovate, in response to the various mutations which have taken place over the years, in particular with the irruption of digital technology in our lives. They draw a lot from the professional practices of designers, but they will also draw on other sources: creative problem solving techniques (such as brainstorming). This is how my International MBA team co-created a solution to better support our grandparents. Through the Mural platform, my team and I went through several steps of co-design, empathy, ideation and interviews. We ended up with a solution to perpetuate our recipes "recette de grand-mère". This solution allows the elderly, to have a complement income but above all allow them to do what they like most: give a smile. The recipes will be distributed through several digital channels and books. Yvonne Dalle Nyame – Cameroon For more information on the program download the brochure or contact the Recruitment Manager Lisa Homer-Rulliere at homer-rulliere@em-lyon.com