On 13th of January, Lincoln International Business School hosted its semi-annual UoL 4.0 Challenge Award Ceremony 2021.
The UoL 4.0 Challenge is a pilot project begun in 2017/2018 in collaboration with the University of Lincoln, North Sea Region Partners (COM3) and Business Lincolnshire and local SMEs.
The project aims to help local small and medium enterprises to fully exploit local potentials for rural innovation and smart growth and to help students to increase student employability, through their use of their developing technology-based entrepreneurial and problem-solving skills, to better deal with cyber-physical systems.
In 2020/21 round of the challenge, two new businesses took part – Systematic Print Management and Lincoln City Football Club. They have presented their digital problems to a group of students from the Operational Management module at Lincoln International Business School.
About Systematic Print Management
Systematic Print Management is a commercial printer in Lincolnshire, who are a second-generation family business offering print management, graphic design and marketing services. They joined the project with the following challenges for the students:
- How can Systematic Print differentiate and reposition their brand?
- How can Systematic Print develop their brand and grow sales through Inbound Marketing?
About Lincoln City Football Club
Lincoln City Football Club (FC) is a professional association football club based in the city of Lincoln. They had the following challenge for the students:
- How can Lincoln City Football Club maintain fan engagement through digital platforms?
The Teams
Four teams made it to the UoL 4.0 Challenge Awards Ceremony, with chosen student representatives presenting their team’s solutions.
Ellie Summers (Team D1) and Joshua Rudderham (Team B3) presented their solutions for Systematic Print. Ellie and her team proposed for Systematic Print to develop product differentiation through expansion of graphic design to improve overall quality and flexibility.
Ellie commented: “Taking part in the UoL 4.0 Challenge Awards ceremony was a great experience. Being able to present my team’s ideas to the public and knowing that Systematic Ltd were watching was really exciting and definitely helped build my confidence! Initially, the thought of presenting was very daunting, but I am so glad I didn’t pass up the opportunity!”
Whereas, Josh, and his team, proposed that Systematic Print make and update their website.
As for the Lincoln City FC, Gemma Peart (Team A1) and Aanya Kaur (Team H3) presented their solutions. Gemma and her team proposed that Lincoln City FC use the digital platform ‘TikTok’ to enhance fan engagement. She said about her experience: “I was over the moon to find out my Operations Management group had been picked for one of the best posters out of the whole module! With absolute delight, my group and I was voted third in the awards ceremony. Thank you, University of Lincoln and Lincoln City FC, for this opportunity. I thoroughly enjoyed presenting and hope I can do something similar again in the future.”
Similarly, Aanya Kaur and her team (Team H3, Second Place) proposed for Lincoln FC to create TikTok and Snapchat accounts, to reach larger number of fans. Aanya said: “I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to present my group’s findings at the UoL 4.0 Challenge Award Ceremony. From the experience, I have learnt key skills which I will apply in the future. For example, I should control the speed at which I speak whilst demonstrating confidence even when nervous. Additionally, I must ensure I mention all relevant information. Lastly, every experience is important and regardless of final outcomes, I should use every opportunity to better my skillset which will ultimately help me in the future. I would like to thank everyone involved in the UoL4.0 Challenge and the Award Ceremony. It was a prestigious opportunity and one that I won’t forget!”
Dr Herbert Mapfaire, Senior Lecturer in Operations Management, commented:
“The UoL 4.0 Challenge 2021 was a resounding success. Students really worked hard to develop solutions for challenges presented to them by participating companies, and their presentations at the Awards Ceremony were of high quality.
“Twenty-seven teams were involved in this year’s challenge all the teams developed practical ideas on how challenges faced by the participating companies can be addressed. In doing this the students demonstrated their ability to understand real operations management problems and to devise appropriate solutions to real-life problems.
“The Awards Ceremony was well supported, with an audience of over 200 following the event live. I would like to thank the companies that provided challenges for the students for providing this great opportunity to our students. A lot of teamwork was involved to successfully deliver the UoL4.0 Challenge 2021 and the Awards Ceremony, and I would like to extend my thanks to everyone involved.”
The Results
Winner – Team D1 Ellie Summers
Second place – Team H3 Aanya Kaur
Third place – Team A1 Gemma Peart
Fourth place – Team B3 Joshua Rudderham
You can watch the full Awards Ceremony below, or on our YouTube channel, here.
If you are a local business and have a digital challenge for our students to solve in the next round of the UoL 4.0 Challenge, please email uolchallenge@lincoln.ac.uk to find out more.
