Along our curriculum, the summer Company Engagement Project (CEP) is the opportunity for all of us to do one step towards our post-MBA dream job. Some choose to engage with local companies for an on-site mini-project, some other choose to engage in a remote personal report fueled by various expert interviews. On my side, my aim was to get a better understanding of the business of a company that really interest me (Siemens) and then to have a chance to open-up on the broader challenges and disruptions awaiting me back in the real world once I am done with my MBA.
This is why I chose to work on a group study with Siemens next47 from Munich, Germany when the opportunity presented itself! Siemens next47 is the arm of Siemens responsible for collaborating with start-ups targeting disruptive business model opportunities in (among other things) distributed electrification, A.I. , connected (e-)mobility, autonomous machines and blockchain applications. Nice trending business topics to work on indeed!
So far I found in my project more than what I bargained for! If I could summarize it my way our subject would be like this: “Here is a technology. Deep dive in these three markets. Tell us what we could do.”
Here we are, three motivated students (Luca Gianaschi, David Risco and myself) having four weeks to:
- summarize the subtleties and inefficiencies of a very complex and regulated industry (the energy business as a whole),
- apprehend a new technology: the blockchain and its possible implications for the energy business and
- do specific recommendations on possible implementations and business models!
This project so far got us the chance to work on what people arguably call “the most disruptive invention since the Internet itself” and its possible implications in Europe and in industries outside the obvious (Fintech). It also got us the opportunity to interact with experts and most importantly with Siemens next47.
We now have to put together in four weeks all what our complementary experiences in consulting, innovation or IT taught us, together with our newly acquired MBA insights and way to look at markets and business models!
Our aim is here to come up with concrete models that we would go and present in Munich to Siemens on the 5th of August for our final meeting with them! I unfortunately won’t be able to tell you more than that: big hush-hush here! But let me tell you this: We are talking about big disruptions in the energy grid!
Nicolas
