In the December 2016 issue of the Business Journal of Midcentral Illinois, Julie Shields, director of Millikin University's Center for Entrepreneurship, shared a recent journey of six business students who went to Denmark over the Thanksgiving break to compete in an innovation competition titled "Experts in Teams."
The competition was hosted by the Business Academy Aarhus and more than 400 students participated including the following Millikin students: Haley Hogenkamp, a senior business management major from Celina, Ohio; Aric Hopp, a senior entrepreneurship major from Lincoln, Ill.; Kameron Kimbrough, a senior marketing major from Chicago, Ill.; Mikayla Krieger, a first-year business management major from Mt. Zion, Ill.; Estefano Martinez, a sophomore business major from Zionsville, Ind.; and Daniel Rivera, a sophomore business major from Franksville, Wis.
"One of Millikin University's international partners, Business Academy Aarhus, has an educational program designed to help cross-disciplinary students come together to learn how to innovate and solve problems in teams," Shields said. "While our students are generally pretty good in teams, and they even have experience working with international students who come to Millikin, the experience of being a cultural minority in an international team is entirely different and not one they get in the United States."
During the competition, the students were divided into a number of "villages" consisting of 30 students, which were then divided into different teams made up of five to six students. Each team consisted of students from different institutions. The teams had to come up with sustainability solutions for some of Denmark's largest companies.
The winning team from the competition included Millikin student Estefano Martinez. Martinez's team won first prize for their concept for a sustainable activity for the team-building company CoastZone.
In addition to the competition, three students: Aric Hopp, Estefano Martinez, and Daniel Rivera, went to work making contacts with multiple researchers at various Danish universities and even the CEO of a local solar innovation company.
"The best part is seeing the students realize that while Google is great, nothing takes the place of reaching out to the human beings that are making things happen," Shields said. "True entrepreneurial adventurers are hungry for collaborators."
Click here to read more in an article from the Business Journal of Midcentral Illinois.