Grenoble Ecole de Management (GEM) is to launch the “2018 Intake Challenge” to welcome new students in the Grande Ecole program. From September 17th to October 3rd, incoming students will be challenged to work together to come up with bright ideas for the future. This will also be an opportunity for the newcomers to learn more about themselves and their environment. The schedule includes: working on attention & emotions, reflexivity, digital detox, peace economics, serious games, creativity, drama classes…
"This new orientation event is in line with the the revised Grande Ecole program. It aims to achieve two purposes: 1. Give meaning and direction to the training (classes, internships, volunteer work…) the students will receive during their entire course of study at GEM; 2. Understand what it’s like to be a student at GEM,” explains Caroline Cuny, co-organizer of the event and professor at GEM.
A specially designed paper chase game to boost creativity
"From Day 1, students will go, in teams, through different key stages to acquire the information, tools, and reflexes useful for the final mission: on the scale of their intake class, to come up with new product and service ideas for tomorrow's society. Professors and graduates will be coaching them throughout the activity. The process will encourage them to think about societal issues but also to question their position and everyday roles as individuals or within their group, at GEM, in Grenoble, and its surroundings," adds Christelle Tornikoski, co-organizer of the challenge and professor at GEM. The Paper Chase, designed for the event, will also be an opportunity for students to discover the School's student associations, an essential element in their overall experience at GEM.
Students ideas submitted to citizens
On the 3rd day, the students will play Tech It, a serious game designed by GEM to discover technologies and learn how to innovate. Based on this game, their mission will be to come up, in teams, with a minimum of 152 ideas for products or services created for corporate partners (April, Casabio, Collaborative Energy, Décathlon, FM Logistic, STMicroelectronics). For an entire week, each team will work for a day on an idea before passing it on to another group on the next day, and so on. On October 3rd, the last day of the challenge, the teams will meet with citizens of Grenoble and neighboring cities. The aim: to present, test and improve an idea born from a long process of co-development. The result will be published in an online book.
It is worth noting that the innovations will then be put to use to provide valuable input for the program throughout the year to come. The students will be working on tangible case studies to understand the purpose of such courses in marketing, finance or management of innovation.
