What Is a Product Challenge?
Challenges are substantial questions that ask students to step beyond obvious solutions and push the boundaries of problem-solving through technology. Unlike an internship, Product Challenges are for educational and exploratory purposes, not work-for-hire.
While challenges should lead to meaningful product development milestones in one semester (three months), the best challenges have a long-term vision that goes beyond the semester.
Product Challenges are expressed in the form of a “How might we…” question in order for our students to respond to the challenge. For example, Google challenged our students with, “How might we encourage people to get a balanced view on controversial topics such as gun control regardless of their (political) leanings?”
Our students will respond to your challenge with inspiration, ideation, and an implementation plan. Organizations should ask questions that are interesting to them, relevant to their businesses, worthy of exploration, and challenging to our students.
How Students Respond to a Challenge
Students use prototyping, user testing, and business planning to answer their “How might we…” question and integrate it back into the business.
In the final presentation, student teams will present a digitally enabled solution to the challenge. The team will share a working demo with the challenger company, and educate key stakeholders on their findings.
