05 Jun 2019
Late last term, ten year 10 Commerce students were lucky enough to be given the opportunity to participate in the Business Innovation Challenge at Macquarie University. The Business Innovation Challenge involved us being given a real-life business issue, and then being tasked to pitch an optimal solution for the business.
The business that we had to develop a solution for was Landcom, the NSW Government’s land and property development organisation. Landcom is being presented with the growing dilemma of the ‘heat island effect’ in its Western Sydney developments. The heat island effect is where the local climate is modified by changes to the form and composition of the land surface, resulting in urban areas cooling at a much slower rate than rural and coastal areas at night, therefore maintaining higher air temperatures, particularly at night. As Western Sydney continues to develop, the heat island effect will continue to be exacerbated. To mitigate these effects, our task was to research what strategies Landcom could use to achieve heat island neutrality in their new developments. Whilst doing this, we had to keep in mind all stakeholders, including developers, consumers and local councils to make sure that our solution wouldn’t prove costly for them, and if it did show them that in the long-run, they would be better off.
We split of into 7 groups made up of a variety of schools and started by gaining an understanding of the problem and looking at what had been tried in the past and failed (such as planting trees), to ensure that we came up with contemporary solutions. We then had time to investigate the problem before attending our first Q&A session with Landcom, where we were able to ask our initial questions about what they wanted out of our solution. It was a great opportunity for us to grasp the fundamental needs and wants for the solution.
Dr. Robert Kay, one of the presenters and former head of strategic innovation at Westpac then gave a presentation about the STEEP (Society, Technology, Environment, Economy, Politics) perspectives, which gave us an understanding of what ideas we had to consider to develop a successful solution. Dr Kay also explained the role of different stakeholders who we would need to consider to ensure the success of our idea. We were then given the opportunity to develop the crux of our idea. Our group came up with a variety of interesting ideas, ranging from design, to landscaping and to transport. After our initial ideas, we were given the opportunity to pitch 3 main ideas to Landcom, where we were told potential flaws in our idea, as well as elements that could improve our idea. That concluded a busy day, and left us with plenty to think about that night.
The next morning, we were up bright and early again for the trek back out to Macquarie University, our minds reinvigorated. We then got back into our groups and narrowed our ideas down to one. We had another group discussion with Landcom, where we were able to ascertain what parts of our plan they liked, and which ones they didn’t. Once we were convinced of our idea, we began formulating our 5-minute pitch, which would be given to Landcom in front of the other groups.
After working vigorously all day to create the best possible solution, it was time for the groups to give their pitch. There were many remarkable presentations with innovative ideas, including revolutionising the transport system to get cars off the road, ideas for landcom to change the way they design their dwellings, and plans for Landcom to change the materials they use to more sustainable ones, such as low-emission glass, “green” roofs, cool pavements, green parking lots and shady verandas.
The Business Innovation Challenge was a fantastic opportunity for all of us and allowed us to use our critical thinking and commerce skills to solve a real-world problem. At the end of the day, prizes were given out to 3 of the best groups. Thomas and Isabella’s group won best idea, myself and Khyla’s group won best pitch and Hannah’s group won best group. I would like to thank Ms Northey and Ms de Lange for taking us to what was an extremely rewarding couple of days.
Jasper
