Students on the Master in Information systems at HEC Lausanne, University of Lausanne tackled practical challenges suggested by businesses as part of a five-day workshop on digital innovation.
The digital transition and innovation make regular course updates essential, breaking down the barriers between different disciplines and immersing students in practical realities. At the same time, businesses and other organizations need fresh perspectives to innovate and address the challenges of the digital age. The Department of Information Systems at HEC Lausanne organized a week-long workshop on the theme of digital innovation from 4 to 8 November 2019 to address both these requirements. The workshop was run by part-time lecturer Alain Giannattasio and supervised by Professors Thibault Estier and Stéphanie Missonier.
Forty-seven students from the Master in Information systems had five days to address the practical challenges suggested by four very different businesses: the strategic consultancy firm Acadys, which specializes in health, the EspeRare foundation, the public transport service provider for the Lausanne region (TL) and Valentine, an SME in western Switzerland. In partnership with ICTjournal, the 10 groups of students presented their solution on Friday 8 November, to around 20 IT managers from well-known businesses, all members of the Digital Circle, a group of CIOs in French-speaking Switzerland who are convinced of the strategic importance of digital technology for business growth and competitiveness, and supporting innovation. A Digital Award will be given to the winning team during Digital Night at HEC Lausanne, on 4 February 2020. The event will bring representatives from the academic and business worlds together around digital innovation.
The students faced a wide variety of challenges, ranging from social innovation to sensors on buses in the city of Lausanne, digitizing professional kitchens, connected animals and electronic patient files, for a practical immersion into the sometimes disruptive reality of innovation. The workshop took them out of their comfort zone, pushing them to use cross-disciplinary, collaborative skills and meet with the users concerned, to talk to them and test their solutions. A great opportunity to spend a week as "designers" of digital solutions.
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