Let me set the scene – the Deloitte 2NSS Auditorium. To Deloitte employees and our clients – a familiar presentation forum - but to the 16-18 year old contestants of the Deloitte TMT Schools Challenge – a palace, a land of opportunity. Similarly, the judges were senior executives – kings, if you will – of large multinationals such as Cisco, Virgin, and Sony. The question was – who would leave with the 'holy grail'?
In terms of background, seven schools (part of Deloitte's Access programme) were invited to submit a proposal for a new business idea on one of three themes – short form video, drones, or smartphone upgrades. These seven battled it out and were whittled down to four - Hazelwood School in Belfast, Cardinal Hume School in Newcastle, MK Academy in Milton Keynes and Parliament Hill School in London.
It was to their credit, that despite the high profile onlookers, the contestants were unfazed and presented smooth, slick and succinct proposals.
Up first was MK academy with a new football-come-comedy youtube channel. I was impressed with their assessment of the gap in the market and some of the content had appeal – but, as a big Spurs fan, I was very disappointed with the Man United references. Having said that, the judges seemed impressed in anticipation of the following groups.
Next up was Hazelwood from Belfast with their speed camera drones idea. Again, they demonstrated a great market need and even displayed how the police could save money and improve road safety. However, I think some of the judges were a bit apprehensive after the revelation that the drone battery life would only be 15 minutes. Despite that – another strong performance.
Third was Parliament Hill with another short form video proposition – this time for a practical post-school guide to life for university-bound 18 year olds. Impressively, this was probably the closest of the 4 groups to being able to release, and had some good content – but unfortunately hadn't quite nailed down their financials. With one presentation to go, the judges were scribbling furiously on their notepads.
By the time the final group took to the stage, I was still to be won over. The last group, however, – Cardinel Hume School from Newcastle – blew the field away with their idea for a wearable phone which wraps around your wrist (and snaps into place when off it), complete with 3D printed prototypes and costing/demand analysis. "We actually came up with this idea before Apple came up with the Watch" they retorted (in good spirits) to one of the judges who questioned their originality, much to the amusement of the audience. To me, it was indeed something straight off the Apple production line – no mean feat. In the end, it didn't take long for the judges to declare them as worthy winners, and for Paul Lee, Partner and editor of the TMT predictions report, to present them with their very apt prize – Amazon vouchers and the 'holy grail' - a 3D printed trophy, which at 10 inches tall still took a huge 32 hours to print.
A deserved round of applause to all contestants - validation in how important it is for business' and the education sector to engage with young people and to get them excited and interested in working in the Tech, Media & Teleco industry, as its survival will be governed by how many Gen Y's keep it at the cusp of innovation, creativity and disruption.
As I was leaving, I heard one audience member comment that none of the ideas had a real current 'Go-To-Market' proposition. That got me thinking - it would be easy to dismiss the ideas of young minds as futuristic and unattainable, but as the saying goes "The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can't be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it".
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
