RILA and 91社区 kicked off the听Global Retail Challenge听on Wednesday, September 26, 2019 with the support of seven sponsors 鈥� Accenture, Walgreens, UL, Columbia Sportswear, Qurate Retail Group, Nordstrom Inc., and lululemon. We are thrilled to report that we have 92 students representing 16 teams from 4 continents participating in the competition.
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Our Kickoff workshop offered students an opportunity to step into a leadership role by imagining how they might develop new circular products, services or business models that transform the retail industry and engage young consumers by designing out waste and pollution, keeping products in use longer and regenerating natural systems.
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We introduced Design Thinking as the problem-solving methodology we will use during the Global Retail Challenge. Design Thinking is a framework for accelerating innovation and growth driven by three core beliefs:
- Empathy听鈥搒tart by establishing insights based on a deep understanding of human needs and the job to be done
- Invention听鈥揹iscover new possibilities, push beyond conventional to higher order solutions that are treated as hypotheses
- Iteration听鈥� the goal is to experiment and learn, using initial hypotheses as steppingstones to better ones听
- Complex challenges like global circular economy benefit from a problem-solving methodology like design thinking that can develop creative alternatives to the existing status quo.
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Screenshot of students from Team 16 鈥� Ashesi University, Ghana during the Kickoff Workshop听
Students in the Global Retail Challenge work together in 4-6 person teams over the next 7 weeks and progress through a series of activities and assignments designed to spur action and experimentation with the circular economy. Teams will select a product category to focus their research and development on from: clothing and shoes, sporting goods, entertainment, toys, health and wellbeing, electronics, home d茅cor, furniture and kitchen appliances. Each week, students will hear feedback and insights from industry experts, provided by GRC sponsors, that will help them advance their challenge solutions.
Week 1鈥檚 success is a great indicator that this year鈥檚 competition will yield tremendous ideas. Stay tuned to find out what the students come up with next week.
