Friday. That was the day we were all waiting and preparing for – day when 18 teams presented their ideas and prototypes to the UEFA Jury. Through the semifinals, six teams were selected to pitch their innovation ideas to the UEFA senior management and the entire IMD and ECAL community involved in the Innovation Week.

Our team made it to the finals too. We were excited to present our idea, but also very curious about the work of other teams we could not closely follow through the sprint of the last days. We went on stage, presented and waited… Finally, the verdict came… Although we did not win the competition, we got a very positive feedback and hope to see our idea implemented in EURO 2024. But we were not sad – we were happy for the winning team and very proud. Proud of ourselves and of all the teams who put their talents, creativity and sleepless nights to contribute to the beautiful idea of football.

Tired, but happy we headed back to IMD for in-class and group discussions that was planned for Friday evening and the whole following day. It seemed a bit odd to be back in the auditorium after the emotional rollercoaster of the last days with its peak at UEFA HQ, but I soon understood the reason and the value behind.

This week was about UEFA, about innovating the fan experience of the future, but it was also about us – 90 IMD and 18 ECAL students, learning and living the process of innovation. The closing classes helped us to understand what happened in the last days – we reflected on the methodologies and the process we applied as well as on how to switch on the ‘innovation mindset’ through the ‘A.L.I.E.N.’ framework developed by our professor Cyril Bouquet.

Last but not least (definitely not least 🙂 ), we reflected on ourselves and the team dynamics we experienced. Who were I this week? An organizer, a critic, an idea generator, …? Or maybe I had different roles depending on the day and task we were working on? What about the others? How did we perform as a team?

Contemplating the seven traits of high performing teams and to what extent we were a ‘high performing team’ was the true Grand Finale of this week. We discussed, gave and received feedback on our behaviors, both helpful and unhelpful to better understand ourselves and our leadership traits. I learnt a lot this week about diversity and how the variety of talents and ways of thinking we had in the team contributed to the final product we are so proud of. Finally, I learnt also a lot about myself and how my behaviors can impact the team thanks to the honest, direct and also kind feedback I received.

Thank you IMD, ECAL, UEFA, ThinkSport and all other organizations and people behind this experience for this learning opportunity!

Team ‘Safari’ – Alex, Cosima, Daniel, Lukasz, Mischa and Wasan

With gratitude and pride to my fellow teammates: Alex, Cosima, Daniel, Mischa and Wasan – it would not be the same experience without you.

Lukasz

The parkour came to the end, the pitch day arrived. We headed to the UEFA Headquarters in the morning to present 18 unique and fantastic ideas to a jury conformed by @ECAL, @Thinksport, @UEFA and IMD experts. Six incredible ideas made it to the finals and just one got the final prize: autographed jerseys and exclusive tickets for UEFA tournaments.

Being outside the business environment and working with ECAL students gave us a different perspective on approaching problem solving. This week we proved that there is never one way to do things and making some room for innovation ignites fantastic results.

After working together for a week, Jawaher, our ECAL team member, observed: “you guys start thinking on the earth, we usually start from the clouds”. Design thinking and innovative ideas start there, happen up there. Experimenting and navigating them towards the ground makes those ideas tangible, transforming ideas into action. The end of the innovation week is here, today, where the clouds and the ground met.

Ezequiel Abachian

I’m told it’s day 3 of Innovation week, however there are moments where I am not so sure! Today has been a whirlwind of discussion and activity as we ventured out of the traditional business school environment and into the tangible reality of innovation and design. 

The challenge of taking the UEFA EURO Fan experience to the next level has been accepted enthusiastically by the class. Each of the 18 teams are now coming to terms with the obstacles that stand in the way of their ambitious design goals and there is a real buzz about the place… 

Our new location for the next 2 days is the 3^rd floor of the UniverCité Coworking design space, a short bus ride away from the centre of Lausanne. Large warehouse-like working areas make up the top floor of this industrial looking building and there is a somewhat controlled chaos of desks, flipcharts, start-ups and people strewn across any and all of the available space here. It’s hard to tell exactly what’s going on, but something reassures you that, whatever it is, it’s pretty exciting and you should definitely be getting involved!

Coming from a start-up myself I was fairly confident that I would have something to bring to the table this week. I’ve dabbled in a bit of innovation here and there I thought and I’ve definitely been to enough football games in my time…

… turns out however, it’s a touch trickier than I had anticipated. Apparently there are a lot of really useful design principles and working methodologies (such as parkour) which have the added benefit of guiding you away from coming up with something that is designed entirely with yourself in mind. Who knew?

So, after a few soul searching moments where I tried to understand my own relevance in the world I awoke to the fact that my team were getting on with things and slowly but surely our idea was beginning to take shape. We are specifically putting the experience of families at the heart of our work for UEFA and after each carefully considered iteration you truly begin to appreciate the investment, dedication and team work required to bring about significant innovation…

As Philippe Starck once said “Getting to the heart of things, is never easy”, but hopefully 2 days is still enough time!

Alex Berry

I have been at IMD for 18 years, and yet I never fail to be surprised at how quickly we seem to move from welcoming a new group of 90 to wishing this same group of friends luck on the next step of their journey.

Friday was graduation day. We (all members of the MBA team) clapped as they received their well-deserved diplomas and we partied with them to celebrate the end of this chapter.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed to the blog this year. Not only Parth, Neharika, Martina, Joyce, Hassan and our image king, Raj, but so many others have taken the time out of busy schedules to share with us a part of their experience, to give us a glimpse into what makes this year so special.

For 2018, I leave you with a short video

We know this is not goodbye. We look forward to hearing how the journey continues.

Suzy

This is a life changing experience, one of those that turn people into who they were supposed to be.
This will be more than an MBA, but only if you let it. Only if you’re willing to put in the effort, if you’re willing to try new things and do what you normally wouldn’t. I’m not talking about the  academic rigorousness and effort required to finish the insurmountable readings, or about the hours needed to deliver all projects on time and the sleepless nights to learn free cash flows, economic theory, strategic positioning, analytics and all that jazz. I’m talking about the resiliency to take no’s, stand back up and dust yourself off, I’m speaking of the courage to have an honest conversation with a teammate, I’m referring to the strength to look into yourself and at your choices, ask why and then change.
This is not an MBA Program and as such it cannot be measured by any regular metrics. It can only be understood through the stories of those who’ve been here, through the lives it changed, the friendships it built, the people it touched.
Thank you, IMD, for taking us in, I feel honored to carry your name.

– Joyce

ICP’s are up and running and all my classmates have been traveling around the world or into the dungeons to deliver their projects. My teammates and I have been tasked with helping a pharma company bring business model innovation to the market.

During the last 5 weeks we have been located at our clients headquarters, discovering pharmaceutical industry from the inside and learning about the peculiarities of our clients business and company culture.

Like most consulting projects ours started with tons of research and interviews, and developed through the delineation  of the deliverables.  Through this project we’ve had the opportunity of not only addressing a real business issue but also applying and seeing why all the concepts we learned this year such as scoping and stakeholder management matter so much. We’ve had a lot of fun together, supported each other through difficult times (try delivering a project while searching for a job) and kept developing our team working and leadership skills.

All in all this is a great learning opportunity and experience, that can only be rivaled by the happiness we have when we get to work from IMD every once in while and see again our classmates (and have wonderful IMD food).

– Joyce