Innovative solutions to global challenges

G20 Global Business Challenge The G20 GBC is a multidisciplinary graduate business case competition to design

sustainable solutions that incorporate innovative technologies and business models to address a global challenge

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www.G20GBC.org

The inaugural G20 Global Business Challenge

will be held during 2014 and culminate with the Finals on 3-6 November 2014

in the lead-up to the G20 Leaders Summit

The G20 Global Business Challenge is being conducted as a partnership between

the Queensland University of Technology, University of Queensland and

Griffith University, with the support of industry and State and Federal Governments.

BACKGROUND

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia is the host city of the next G20 Summit scheduled for 14-15 November 2014.

Immediately prior to this meeting of world political leaders is the B20 meeting of national and international business leaders.

In the lead up to the G20 Summit, Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in partnership with the University of Queensland, Griffith University, Government and industry, is hosting the integral “G20 Global Business Challenge” (G20 GBC), a globally unique business competition for multidisciplinary teams of graduate students from the world’s leading universities.

Graduate competitions have gained increasing prominence in leading universities around the world as a means of demonstrating educational excellence, leadership and problem solving skills of their ‘shining star’ candidates. Typically these competitions take the form of MBA case competitions, discipline or industry-based graduate competitions (e.g. IT or Health) or entrepreneurial (business planning) competitions. Increasingly, the focus of such competitions has been to address emerging strategic and operational problems of single existing organisations (as competition sponsors) or alternatively to promote emerging new ventures or university spin-out companies.

The G20 GBC takes Graduate competitions to the next level in order to address globally relevant problems and potential opportunities to transform existing industries. The objective of the “G20 Global Business Challenge” is to use the competition to formulate business solutions to globally relevant and contemporary ‘wicked’ problems. These solutions eventual implementation will have the potential to capture emerging transformative business opportunities for industries, regions and countries. It is a core principle of the competition to foster cross-border and cross-discipline collaborations and to harness the exceptional intellectual talent that resides with graduate students in the world’s top business schools and universities. Resultant solutions are envisaged to combine a mix of new technologies, new industry-level business models and high degrees of novelty.

Brisbane - home of the 2014 G20 Leaders Summit

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THE TOPIC FOR THE 2014 G20 GLOBAL BUSINESS CHALLENGE The challenge for the 2014 G20 GBC is to develop an

innovative solution to use, recycle and/or manage water to achieve large-scale beneficial impact.

Water, or its increasing scarcity, has emerged as a key challenge for governments, industries and communities globally. Access to clean water is an essential ingredient for sustaining populations. How this resource is managed given competing demands from industry and agricultural enterprises, as well as environmental management concerns, creates a degree of complexity that has only recently become acknowledged. Traditional approaches to this complex problem such as research driven technology-push solutions within larger integrated systems are too simplistic. Broader holistic and transformative paradigm shifts are what is really required. In this way, the emergence of new and novel technologies (while important in their own right), are simply part of the larger solution set to capture resultant industry and economy wide benefits.

While water constraint issues arise from a multitude of industrial applications, it is in the resources and extractive industries in particular that face significant water challenges. Commercial organisations in these industries have faced particular criticism from landholders and regional communities for resource depletion and not doing enough to support new job creation and industry development. Additionally, extractive processes demand the utilisation of vast quantities of water requiring large storage capacity and treatment to meet environment standards. To date, no single technological solution has been found to the water treatment problem faced by these industries.

The lack of a holistic approach to these issues creates further challenges for operators in meeting their social responsibility obligations within affected communities. At the same time, these challenges afford unique opportunities for operators to act as catalysts within their local communities (particularly regional and remote communities and developing countries) to leverage water re-use and availability options for new industry development and community sustainability.

The proposed challenge is aimed at capturing new industry development opportunities through novel technology solutions and business models for more effective management of water constraints.

Proposed solutions will comprise a combination of innovative business and financing models as well as technologies from a variety of water-dependant technological domains such as:

• Water treatment;

• Water re-use and management;

• Novel agricultural crops (particularly to support biofuel production); and

• Renewable energy and biofuel.

In particular proposed business solutions will be ‘holistic’ in nature and comprise an appropriate mix of new technologies and innovative business and financing models. The objective of the 2014 G20 GBC is to create opportunities for economic development activity in regional and remote communities through better management of increasingly scarce water resources.

FORMAT OF THE 2014 G20 GLOBAL BUSINESS CHALLENGE

The competition will consist of two rounds. Round 1 will be a ‘virtual’ elimination round to select the finalists. Teams will propose a conceptual business solution addressing the broadly described business challenge.

Round 2 (Finals) will be comprised of a highly intensive two-day lock in period for the finalist teams and culminate in a presentation to the Judging panel and the delivery of a 50 page Proposed Implementation Plan on their proposed solution.

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COMPETITION PHASES:

Team membership will comprise a multidisciplinary mix of a maximum four postgraduate students with at least one student enrolled in a business program (such as MBA) and at least one postgraduate student from a techncial discipline (such as engineering).

Each team may also appoint a Coach from a participating institution. Teams are strongly encouraged to collaborate with techncial mentors and technology providers from the research and business communities.

The Judging Panel will select the top 6 teams from the virtual elimination round to compete in the Final. The Judging Panel will consist of Global CEOs and finance executives The B20 will be invited to submit two members for consideration for inclusion.

The scheduling of the competition will take place in accordance to the key activity milestones in the lead-up to the G20. The Final will be conducted immediately prior to the G20 Summit.

Teams participating in the finals will be required to prepare a:

20 minute executive ‘pitch’; 30 minute oral defence of questions from the

judging panel; and, Detailed (maximum 50 page) Implementation Plan

of the proposed solution.

COLLABORATION

Teams are encouraged to collaborate across business and technological domains, between universities and research organisations and with industry.

The G20 GBC will provide a uniquely designed networking portal to assist teams and technology providers to collaborate regardless of location. The portal will be accessible through the event website and will provide the following capabilities to facilitate collaboration:

Streaming of presentations; Collaboration between teams, global research

leaders (located throughout the world and not necessarily within their institution) and Technology Providers;

Opportunities for promotion of technical capabilities of participating Technology Providers.

CONTACT G20 GBC Management Team Graduate School of Business Queensland University of Technology Website: Address:

www.G20GBC.org PO Box 2434 Brisbane QLD, 4001 Australia

Email: information@G20GBC.org Phone: +61 7 3138 1057 Fax: +61 7 3138 1299