Business Challenge

You are on: Business Challenge

RBC Next Great Innovator Challenge – Business Challenge*

The Business Challenge is open to students at any Canadian post-secondary school. The challenge runs for the duration of the fall semester (see specific dates) with initial judging completed by December Holidays and the Final presentations and judging in Toronto on January 17, 2014.

The Challenge Question

Big data is alternately defined as:

• "high-volume, high-velocity and high-variety information assets that demand cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing for enhanced insight and decision making." (Gartner)
• "the frontier of a firm’s ability to store, process, and access all the data it needs to operate effectively, make decisions, reduce risks, and serve customers." (Forrester)

RBC has access to reams of data about all of our clients - every financial transaction that they've done, for example. How do we make sense of all of this information to make better decisions - turn it into action - run our business better? In simple terms, how can we turn this mountain of data into wisdom?

Accordingly the Challenge question for 2013 is:

"Suggest an innovative concept that will enable RBC's businesses to use big data to create a competitive advantage."

Your innovation:

• Should be tailored to either the enterprise as a whole, a specific RBC line of business (i.e. Canadian Banking, Wealth Management, Capital Markets, Insurance, etc.), or a sub-line of business (i.e. Commercial Banking, Global Asset Management, Global Treasury Services, Life & Health Insurance, etc.)
• Should deliver measurable value to clients, staff or the enterprise
• Could have an internal/employee or external/client focus
• Could identify opportunities from a global perspective
• Should NOT rely on a specific single product (“create a Data Warehouse”, is not a suitable response)
• Should NOT be solely for promotional or branding purposes

How to Enter

To participate in the Business Challenge, you must register your team during the fall semester – as long as your team provides their complete submission between October (Date/time TBD) and November 25, 2013 at 11:59 pm (EST).

Teams must consist of a minimum of 3 and maximum of 5 students. Only one submission per team will be accepted and each student can only be a member of one team.

All teams must register for the Business Challenge by individually signing a registration form during the submission period and before any submission is entered for judging.

Register for the challenge 

Selecting the Winners

Each team will be evaluated against each other by RBC. Five finalist teams will be selected to come to Toronto for the face-to-face finals event on January 17, 2014. At the end of the finals event, first and second place teams will be identified, with the remaining finalist teams tying for third.

Prizing

The National Champion of the RBC Next Great Innovator Challenge – Business Challenge will walk away with a first place prize of $10,000*. Do you have what it takes to be number one?

Prizes will be awarded as follows:

Business Challenge Championship team:
$10,000 (split equally among registered team members)

Second Place team:
$5,000

Remaining Finalist teams:
$3,000 per team

Read the rules 

You are on: Jam Division

RBC Next Great Innovator Challenge – Jam Division*

The Jam Division is an intense competition in which you will compete in teams to solve innovation problems. These intense challenges are designed to help you understand the fast pace, ever-changing, time-crunched world of business professionals.

If your school is selected to take part in the Jam Division challenge, we reveal the Challenge Question at the start of the competition. You then have a predetermined time to complete your submission (timelines are unique for each competition) before you submit to RBC. Challenges may take place on campus, within a class, at RBC or another offsite location.

Registration and Prizing

Registration, prizing and rules are unique to each competition and will be announced at the start of each challenge. To find out if there’s a challenge scheduled for your school, follow us on Facebook  to view our calendar of events.

If you’re interested in organizing a Jam Division challenge at your school, contact us  for more information.