Industry Immersion Day 2018

The students, who came from a variety of degree backgrounds, from Nursing, to Arts, and Computer Science, to Veterinary Nursing, had all chosen to study one of two electives offered by the Innovation Academy; Introduction to creative thinking, or Introduction to Entrpreneurial Endeavour.  

About the day - the challenges and the results!

On arrival to each of the Deloitte challenge sites, the students, (who had been broken into 21 teams of 7-8 UCD Undergraduate Students along with members of Deloitte Trainee and Analyst Group and Bank of Ireland people) were split across the below challenges to apply design-based problem solving techniques. These teams met with Senior Managers, Directors and Partners from across the businesses who took on the role of 'Subject Matter Experts' during the Empathy phase of the day, where teams sought to understand a domain and find a problem-to-be-solved.

Facilitated by UCD Innovation Academy Entrepreneurial Specialists, each team worked throughout the day to identify a problem to be solved. A prototype solution was developed by each team and finally each team pitched their solution to the panel of judges. The teams presented first to an initial internal panel of judges in order to determine which of the two teams from each challenge would go on to the final. To close the day, final pitches were made to the external panel of judges listed below.

• Brian Jackson, Partner Financial Services Audit, and Audit Innovation lead, Deloitte
• Chris Carter, Director and Corporate Finance Innovation Lead, Deloitte
• Claire Fitzpatrick, Senior Manager, Deloitte and Co-Founder & CFO of Red Planet (acquired by Deloitte)
• Sarah Tully, Innovation Team, Bank of Ireland
• Barbara Diehl, Executive Director, UCD Innovation Academy

The Theme

Business of the Future – Leveraging Innovation and Creativity in a Smarter World

Challenges

The four challenges and the winning idea for each are listed below. The panel of judges were very impressed with the standard of ideas and presentations from the day, and while eight teams were shortlisted, there could only be four winners!  

1. Audit: "What skillset will the auditor of the future require and what should audit firms being doing today to future proof themselves against the changes required?"

The winners: D-Mentor

Using a combination of QR codes and an algorithm, D-Mentor enables auditors at Deloitte to quickly access information on processes and regulations that are specific to the requirements of the audit they are working on at any given time. 

2. Corporate Responsibility: "Focusing on one of the following Sustainable Development Goals: Good Health & Wellbeing, Quality Education, or Reduced Inequalities, how can Deloitte and the wider business community use their professional skillset and current innovative technologies to help solve these problems by the target timeline of 2030?"

The winners: Budgy

Budgy is an app designed to aid financial literacy and to help college students from socio-economically challenged backgrounds anywhere in the world to access financial support and better manage their finances ensuring money is much less of a barrier to achieving their potential.

3. Block Chain: "We challenge you to come up with cool new Blockchain ideas combining the building blocks of a bank with other services. For example, what happens when you combine, Blockchain with Facebook and Banking? Or Blockchain with online shopping and banking? Or a messaging service with banking and Blockchain? This integration is known as open banking.

For this challenge ensure that your Blockchain solution uses empathy mapping to put the customer at the heart of the new system."

The winners: Flash Forward

Flash Forward uses Blockchain technology with open banking to significantly reduce the hassle of setting up a new bank or utility account. Using Flash Forward, individuals will only have to submit their details to a bank or utility service provider once. The information is then stored, and can be accessed securely by any bank or utility service provider using an encrypted code.    

4. Talent Acquisition and Management: "How do you attract, engage and retrain Millennials in a competitive environment?"

The winners: Project Ownership Dashboard

Project Ownership Dashboard is an online tool that uses artificial intelligence to ensure junior staff (particularly those who are newly qualified) at Deloitte are assigned to projects that are relevant to their expressed interests and skill sets fostering a deeper sense of connection with their work and greater motivation to remain at Deloitte.  

Congratulations to the winning teams and thank you to all who were involved on the day, we are already looking forward to next year! 

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