The TU/e Contest is not the only contest created to put entrepreneurial students in touch with businesses. At a national level we have the University Contest, now (also) held for the fourth time. On just one day fourteen teams, one from every Dutch university, compete in working out a business case in the best possible manner. This year’s assignment was to conceive of an idea for preventing burn-out among more highly educated people by improving their physical and mental health.

Mechanical Engineering student Thomas van de Wiel did not know his team members before traveling to the Tropical Museum in Amsterdam where the contest took place. “I was called by the organizers to join in, just like the four other members. As the University Contest has too little name recognition, they had not received any applications from Eindhoven. I’d never heard of it either, so I was really surprised when they rang me. They had my number as a result of my participation in the TU/e Contest.”

Deadlines

The multidisciplinary team (Pieter-Bas Vlaandere and Stijn Kamermans study Industrial Engineering and Management Science, Femke Coops follows Industrial Design and Jason van Eunen Innovation Management) had to set to work hard. “There were a great many deadlines, which kept us on our toes. The first deadline was after just one hour. This meant that after having heard the assignment we had to come up with a plan within forty-five minutes. Therefore we just had to take the plunge without any time for discussion.”

They conceived of a personal coach in the form of a cuddly toy or a robot. “In any case not a human being of flesh and blood, for that may work like a deterrent. We don’t want an employee to feel personally assaulted. A robot can monitor and give recommendations as well.”

A fun assignment component, as Van de Wiel explained, was that they were told during the lunch break that a press release had been issued about the theme and they had to react in a press conference. Also, they had to prepare a financial plan and devise a marketing strategy and the final assignment was the delivery of a one-minute pitch in front of an audience of almost a hundred listeners.

Flag

That pitch in particular made a strong impression on the jury and the fact that the solution conceived of came from the employee instead of from the management. “This way the User, Society and Enterprise perspective package comes in handy after all”, Van de Wiel adds with a smile. Along with the prize his team received a beautiful plate, a copper statuette of an own and five iPads.

Team Eindhoven does have a point for improvement for the organization as well as TU/e. “Everything had been arranged at the very last moment. The organization should advertise and communicate better. It was also very late when we were told that we had to bring a banner from our university. It’s regrettable that TU/e does not have a nice flag in stock. Now we had to set off with a smallish banner from the Eindhoven University Fund”, says the Mechanical Engineering student. Still, as chuffed as he is with – his first – iPad, “the title is the best part of it all”.

Sponsor Achmea, a healthcare insurer, promised it would study Eindhoven’s plans further, but no concrete appointments have been made just yet.