Young talents' vision for the new hybrid world at FTxBocconi Challenge
Rethinking the fruition of entertainment and redesigning national healthcare policies. These were among the winning ideas put forward by 200 young talents from all around the world in the FTxBocconi Talent Challenge 2022, organised by Bocconi University and the Financial Times. Ideas that were the result of five intense days of masterclasses, workshops, networking and teamwork with the sole objective of giving life to ideas to innovate business and society in the new hybrid world.
The 200 students and young professionals, coming from over 50 countries, competed in teams, devising solutions for four challenges in the areas of Work, Health, Entertainment and Customer Experience - searching for innovative policies and business ideas, integrating physical and digital experiences, that should first of all be sustainable. At the end each team pitched their ideas to a jury of Bocconi faculty and FT journalists.
"My team's project focused on hosting live-stream concert watch parties in unique settings (outdoor picnics, candlelit dinners, etc) to take advantage of the content convergence trend in the entertainment sector and give people more opportunities to engage with their favorite musical artists," explains Lindsay Gallagher, student at Villanova University in Philadelphia, whose team were awarded first place in the Challenge. "My favorite part of FTxBocconi was getting to collaborate with teammates across different time zones, cultures, and experiences. It was a privilege to be able to learn alongside such creative and diligent people."
The Challenge was opened by Gianmario Verona, Rector of Bocconi, and Roula Khalaf, Chief Editor of the Financial Times. Apart from the teamwork, the participants were also involved in a series of masterclasses and talks with professors, guest speakers and FT journalists. Guest speakers, all Bocconi alumni, included Francesca Bellettini, President and CEO Yves Saint Laurent, Margherita Della Valle, CFO Vodafone Group, Davide Grasso, CEO Maserati, Federica Tremolada, Managing Director Southern & Eastern Europe at Spotify, Sergio Picarelli, President of Talent Solutions at Adecco Group, and Silvio Campara, CEO Golden Goose. The event also featured a panel discussion on trends in the startup world with four other Bocconi alumni: Paola Marinone, founder BuzzMyVideos, Gauthier Van Malderen, founder Perlego, Alessandro Monterosso, co-founder PatchAI, and Jacopo Piana, founder Quick Algorithm.
"Our team proposed a sustainable health strategy for Nigeria by developing prevention methods and responses to potential health threats through digital technologies," says ChiaChun Hsieh, Taiwanese, a student at Wuhan University, whose team placed second in the Challenge. "With different backgrounds, we approached the challenge from various aspects which resulted in an innovative solution. I was completely overwhelmed with the passion everyone has for changing the world into a better place and we were also strongly inspired by the professional guidance during the five days."
"We developed "Immersiverse", a subscription-based service of on-demand concerts in virtual reality format – thus bridging the virtual and the real in the future of entertainment in the hybrid world," says Rucha Deshpande, Indian, a graduate student at Bentley University, Massachusetts, whose team came up third. "FTxBocconi pushed me to think out-of-the-box and come up with ideas that had to be tested in terms of creativity, innovation and viability. The masterclasses by Bocconi professors were very insightful to understand the issues that exist in the new "hybrid world" while the sessions with top CEOs gave me a new perspective into how companies coped up with Covid19 and came up with solutions."
The winners of the challenge will be interviewed for the final phase of the acceleration program of B4i, Bocconi's accelerator, and have access to a dedicated one-to-one session with the B4i team to review their business idea and presentation. They will also have a mentoring session with FT professionals and their pitch featured on the FT Talent website.