Innovation Day

Innovation Day

FOSTERING INNOVATION THROUGH TEAMWORK AND REAL-LIFE STORIES

by Magdalena Arraztoa, Azul Lizana, Dominga Mandiola and Florencia Ramírez University Innovation Fellows Universidad de los Andes

In May 2022, our team held the first ADS Innovation Day, an event focused on innovation and creativity for the students of Administración de Servicios (ADS), the program where we study. The event’s main goal was to foster innovation and bonding between our classmates. Everything started when we took part in the UIF program in 2021. Our group attended training and participated actively week by week. After finishing the training, we thought of generating this event since we wanted to promote innovation among our classmates, and we also wanted to provide an opportunity to reconnect after two years of online classes due to the pandemic. In December 2021, we presented our project to stakeholders in our university and our school, receiving the “go ahead” to organize the event. We had to change scope and focus, but we were ready to pivot and go. May 4, 2022, was assigned for the event. We then started brainstorming ideas for the day, meeting several times over the summer to plan and think about the best way to make our classmates participate. Once we returned from our summer break in March 2022, we started to work on our project. We chose the name “ADS Innovation Day.” We thought about the activities we wanted to create, focusing on letting students take an active role. We worked on inviting guest speakers, designing the logo for the activity, and securing a budget. Then we assigned roles for each of us and started working on making this happen: Azul Lizana was in charge of budgeting, securing all materials, and graphic design; Florencia led the communications effort, overseeing social media and communicating the event to all involved; Dominga worked on the day’s activities and shared them through the School’s Student Council; and Magdalena oversaw securing our guest speakers and sponsors for the event.

Throughout all the planning, we constantly communicated and met, something we had learned during the UIF program. This way, we could support the others and be up to date with what was happening. In April, things were taking shape quickly, and we finally had defined our program schedule. We would start with an exercise to allow participants to meet and get to know each other. We did this through the “speed introductions.” After that, students would be quickly introduced to prototyping and working in teams through the “Marshmallow Challenge.” Then, Professor Felipe Wilson (UIF Faculty Champion) would provide a brief overview of innovation and its importance for students.

Students would then participate in a “futures thinking” exercise, looking to invent the future of services. Finally, through a “future scenarios” activity, we would make students think about possible futures and the services needed in those situations.

Finally, we would have two guest speakers: Camila Mohr, CEO of Innspiral, a firm focused on driving innovation in large corporations; and Tomás Ffrench Davis, founder and CEO of Kellün, a social startup focused on innovating how to collaborate with social innovation projects. Once we defined the program, we started communicating this to our classmates. We started inviting the students through social media, official school channels, and word of mouth.

Finally, it was May 4! The day had arrived. We were apprehensive since the school had canceled classes to allow students to attend the event, but for many of them, this meant a holiday! But students were interested, and we finally had around 50 students show up (we are a small program!), which was an excellent number. Azul and Dominga welcomed all the students and provided them with our “Welcome Kit,” which had sticky notes (for the activities), a marker, an Innovation Day sticker, and snacks for the day. Florencia and Magdalena were waiting in the conference room to kick off the meeting. At the end of the day, we were thrilled with how the students participated and got involved in all the activities. Their feedback was very positive, and they highlighted the guest speakers and group activities. From our side, the activity surpassed all our expectations. Our classmates’ reaction was tremendously encouraging, and we learned much about them and ourselves. We felt that we went beyond what we usually do, which helped us better know each other and ourselves. We want to encourage every student to take these opportunities to grow, learn and improve. The UIF program helped us gain new tools and mindsets and gave us self-confidence. And above all, it reinforced how teamwork makes things better!