Two IMD teams of IMD MBAs have been named among the winners of the Debiopharm Inartis Challenge, a competition organized to harness innovation to improve the lives of healthcare patients. One team’s project is a gripping device which allows patients with shaky limbs, due to diseases like Parkinson’s, to hold objects still. Another gives patients the chance to customize and make their hospital wear more fun to increase their mental wellbeing.
In April, IMD’s MBA class embarked on a weeklong intensive innovation module with the goal of coming up with a new product or idea that would improve the lives of healthcare patients. During the week, the teams explored the processes of creating new ideas, insight-gathering, prototyping and pitching.
The teams’ projects were submitted to the Debiopharm Inartis challenge, a competition to reward innovations in healthcare. The two IMD teams were selected along with five other winners, out of 83 participating teams in total.
The winning projects receive CHF 5,000 to develop a prototype of their idea. In the fall, the most developed idea will be awarded another CHF 25,000 to continue development of the project.
According to Cyril Bouquet, who organized the innovation-centric week and IMD’s participation in the Debiopharm Inartis challenge: “Companies that innovate have always known the importance of approaching design thinking and innovation as an exploration process. It’s a process that takes innovators out into the world to discover the problems real people face so they can create new solutions, prototype them and finally bring them to life.”
“I am particularly pleased to see all of the collective intelligence put to use for this annual challenge, which is generating more and more interest every year, across increasingly diverse communities,” said Benoît Dubuis, President of the Inartis Foundation. “Whether it’s incremental, iterative or disruptive, innovation will definitely come from different types of groups and individuals who will put their collective expertise and experience to use to benefit science broadly.
Find out more about innovation in IMD’s MBA program.
More coverage of the Debiopharm Inartis Challenge:
*Video of the IMD MBA innovation experience
*IMD MBAs immersed in innovation
*IMD MBAs prototyping ideas in the makerspace
*Cyril Bouquet discusses the IMD MBA Innovation Challenge
*Day 1 of the Innovation Challenge
*Day 2 of the Innovation Challenge
