(Left to right) Jorge Angarita, Janice Wong, John Shin, Lauren Braun, and Helen Wills

In a competition involving twenty-two teams from the top MBA and graduate design programs from across North America, the team from Illinois Institute of Technology emerged on top of the 2012 Rotman Design Challenge. The competition was held at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School on Management on March 24. The IIT team narrowly edged out a team from OCAD University who won the competition last year.

Teams from the Darden School of Business, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, NYU Stern, California College of the Arts, Illinois Institute of Technology, OCAD University, the Rotman School and UofT’s Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design presented their ideas on developing concepts and products which will shape students’ financial behavior that will lead to a more sustainable and economically viable adult life.

Team Beta (Lauren Braun, John Shin, Helen Wills, Jorge Angarita, and Janice Wong) from Illinois Institute of Technology won the competition with their TD Stacks engagement model. The A-Team, (Jen Chow, Josina Vink, Jessica Mills, Martin Ryan, and Phouphet Sihavong), from OCADU, last year winners of the Rotman Design Challenge, placed second with their TD Table Talk platform. FabFore, (Ben McCammon, Uma Maharaj, Eric Leo Blais, and Ana Matic), also from OCADU placed third with TD BranchOut.

“Competitions like the Rotman Design Challenge are vital to the future of graduate education in business and design. They are the closest students get to real life experimentation with the evolving mindsets and toolsets of innovation, and how they can be best put into practice to deliver both human and business value,“ said Martin Ryan of The A-Team.

This was the first year participants, visitors and judges were also able to cast their vote as part of the people’s choice awards for the Best Story, won by OCADU’s FabFore, Most Fun Presentation award to Team Beta from IIT, and Most Disruptive Idea won by OCADU’s The A-Team.

“We’re so grateful to have been part of the event this year. The chance to compete against such a diverse group of schools was both challenging and rewarding. The exposure to different perspectives and problem-solving methods left a lasting impression” said Lauren Braun speaking on behalf of the Beta team.

Plans are already underway for the next Rotman Design Challenge as it continues to develop as one of the premier international venue for sharing best business design practices and solving wicked problems.

“There is so much we can gain from sharing our unique approaches to thinking through these sorts of complex challenges” said Josina Vink of The A-Team.

TD Bank Group was the lead sponsor of the 2012 Rotman Design Challenge

The Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto is redesigning business education for the 21st century with a curriculum based on Integrative Thinking. Located in the world’s most diverse city, the Rotman School fosters a new way to think that enables the design of creative business solutions. The School is currently raising $200 million to ensure Canada has the world-class business school it deserves.