Toronto – A team of students from the Parsons School of Design has won one of the world’s preeminent competitions for students from business and design schools. The Rotman Design Challenge (RDC) held on February 9 and 10 at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management is a unique event that allows students to put design theories into practice by tackling a complex business challenge.
The teams tackled a question on disruption in the construction industry posted by conference sponsor Kingspan, the global leader in high performance insulation and building envelope solutions for the construction market. Kingspan’s ultimate business goal is to improve building performance and contribute to a more sustainable, energy-efficient future for their customers and the environment.
The team from the Parsons School, consisting of Silky Kadakia, Vinay Kumar Mysore, Victor Michud, Maria Di Paolo, Shishir Raut, and Sundar Subramanian, placed first.
A team of MBA students, Vanessa Lynskey, Dorothy Watts, Abigail Liederman, Christina Puder, and Colleen Clark, from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business placed second.
And a team from the Rotman School finished third with team members, Lara Luo, MBA’20, Vesper Pan, MBA’20, Alex Guo, Morning MBA’19, Sunur Bharadwaj, MBA’20, Leah Morris, MBA’20, and Serife Karapinar, MBA’20.
“When we started planning RDC 2019, our focus shifted to three main objectives: First, to create a shared learning experience. Second, foster an atmosphere of connection for participants, mentors and judges alike. And third, build an experience that goes far beyond the competition. After reflecting on the competition and hearing from those involved, we truly believe that we were able to accomplish these three outlined objectives and so much more, ” Sarah Vandersluis, MBA’19, a RDC co-chair, and a member of The Business Design Club at the Rotman School.
“The weekend was full of mentorship, learning and inspiration. We were very impressed by the creativity of the ideas as well as the energy brought by all participating students. Although we encouraged the business design methodology in answering the case question, we as directors also took it upon ourselves to ensure the entire journey of RDC for all stakeholders was human-centred,” added Paula Neves, MBA’19, a RDC co-chair, and a member of The Business Design Club at the Rotman School.
"Case competitions can be roller coaster rides. That is why we used business design in crafting this event and also took into account the feedback from last year’s RDC. This is the first year that we provided mentors to all the participants and we received positive feedback from the students saying that the mentors were very supportive, and they learned a lot. It was incredible how students approached us that they all appreciated all the little details that made the experience so much better and mentioned that everything was well thought out and well organized," added Sheila Quiroga, MBA’19, a RDC co-chair, and a member of The Business Design Club at the Rotman School.
Additional information on the RDC is available at www.rotmanbdc.com/rotman-design-challenge/.
The Rotman School of Management is part of the University of Toronto, a global centre of research and teaching excellence at the heart of Canada’s commercial capital. Rotman is a catalyst for transformative learning, insights and public engagement, bringing together diverse views and initiatives around a defining purpose: to create value for business and society. For more information, visit www.rotman.utoronto.ca.
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For more information:
Ken McGuffin
Manager, Media Relations
Rotman School of Management
University of Toronto
Voice 416.946.3818
E-mail mcguffin@rotman.utoronto.ca