VALUE THIS! is a blended/online eight week Innovation Tournament. Doctoral student teams develop a new venture using an everyday object that will change the world by creating the most value possible. Students are encouraged to develop a product, service, experience and to think small or big.
VALUE THIS! BRANDMAN UNIVERSITY DOCTORAL INNOVATION TOURNMENT
IDEO, the widely admired and award winning design and development firm that brought the world the Apple Mouse, the Polaroid instant camera and hundreds of other cutting edge products believes great projects are achieved by great teams (Kelly, 2001). IDEO employs what they call Hot Teams or Hot Groups to accomplish their goals. Hot project teams start with a clear goal and a serious deadline.
Kelly states the following about IDEO’s Hot Groups: The hot group knows that it might disband after the goal is reached and reform the next week to slay another dragon. The difference between a dull group and a hot group… It’s the difference [for IDEO] between administrating a trust fund and making an MTV video… hot groups are infused with purpose and personality. (p. 70)
As evolving transformational leaders our students will be called upon to form teams within their organizations to solve difficult problems, often requiring creative solutions. Students will also be charged with innovative thinking and project delivery. In this assignment, VALUE THIS! students experience, first hand, what it’s like to participate in a HOT TEAM, very much like one that IDEO employs on a consistent basis. At the Fall [face to face] Immersion students are assigned to a HOT TEAM and engage in an exciting Innovation Tournament, called VALUE THIS!
THE CHALLENGE:
Each HOT TEAM is charged with coming up with an idea for a new venture using an everyday object that will create wealth or change the world by creating the most value possible. Students are encouraged to come up with a product, service, experiences, or anything else they can imagine. Students are free to act locally or globally, and to think small or BIG.
EVERYDAY OBJECT:
Object is announced at Immersion
HOW IS "VALUE" DEFINED?
That's a good question and one of the toughest parts of this challenge! It’s the student’s job to create value out of almost nothing at all and to decide how to do it. Each Hot Team team has to decide how they will measure the value created and how to communicate that value to others.
There is a wealth of social and environmental challenges facing our world and potentially in our communities. Student are charged with consider problems which span a wide spectrum and include issues such as:
- Ensuring environmental sustainability
- Peacekeeping, Conflict Prevention, Combating Terrorism
- Global Infectious Diseases
- Digital Divide
- Biotechnology Rules
- Global Financial Architecture
- Illegal Drugs
- Trade, Investment, and Competition Rules
- Intellectual Property Rights
- E-Commerce Rules
- International Labor and Migration Rules
- Promoting gender equality and empowering woman
- Reducing child mortality rates
- Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger
An Innovation tournament is a fun and effective way to experience the entrepreneurial process, including seizing opportunities, leveraging limited resources, and bringing ideas to life (Global Innovation Tournament Toolkit). Specifically this tournament aims to:
- Allow participants to practice entrepreneurship;
- Teach and promote teamwork and creativity;
- Provide participants opportunities to reflect upon a leader’s role in creativity and innovation;
- Unleash personal creativity;
- Focus on FUN and friendly competition.
WHAT ARE THE GOALS?
- To create as much value as possible using an everyday object.
- To develop an idea for a new venture
- To measure the value you create in a reasonable way.
- To report on the idea and value created in a creative and impactful 3-minute video.
WHAT’S THIS INNOVATION TOURNAMENT ALL ABOUT?
This tournament is modeled in part after other tournaments and challenges, such as Stanford’s global innovation tournament and you innovate! Hosted nationally by the Canadian business foundation (cybf). The key learning objective is to gain a deep understanding of what it’s like to create something significant out of almost nothing at all – a fundamental skill relevant to any career. This tournament shows that the spark of a great idea simply comes from looking at an ordinary object in an extraordinary way, an entrepreneurial way. Past challenges include creating as much value from a pack of post-it-notes, water bottles, rags, or rubber bands. Successful completion of the challenge requires creativity, teamwork, execution, and value creation.
WHEN WILL THE PROJECTS BE JUDGED?
After grading, and at the conclusion of the course, instructors will forward all Hot Team video links (absent points/grade) to the Value This! Project Coordinator. Projects are judged after the course is completed during the month of November. Prior grades will not affect the judging.
WHO WILL JUDGE OUR PROJECTS?
The ED.D. Core Planning Team will convene a panel of judges from among Brandman faculty and entrepreneurial leaders in Orange County in addition to some East Coast judges.
HOW MANY WINNERS WILL BE SELECTED AFTER THE PROJECTS ARE GRADED?
Typically, in these tournaments the number of awards and categories is at the discretion of the judges. We plan to follow that format.
WHAT ARE THE JUDGING CRITERIA?
Just like in real life and true entrepreneurial environments, there are many ways to define value/impact, and measurement is very subjective. The criteria will be at the discretion of the judges however, a rubric for assessing value will guide the process. One guideline we are offering will be for judges to give more weight to projects in which teams actually implement their ideas rather than simply talk about their ideas.
ARE THERE PRIZES?
Yes, commendations will be awarded to the various Brandman Hot Teams who win the competition or place in an acknowledged category. We encourage students, however to place their emphasis on having fun and unleashing their creativity rather than on any competitive aspects of the tournament. Winning teams and their videos will be showcased at the January 2017 Immersion.