On February 1-3 2020 the Financial Times teamed up with Bocconi University to host the first FTxBocconi Talent Challenge, bringing together students, early career professionals, academics, Nobel Prize winners and business leaders to tackle the challenges facing a range of sectors as a result of technological change.
The event convened 100 challengers from 45 countries across five continents to solve strategic challenges related to the digital disruption in the fashion, fintech, artificial intelligence and sustainability sectors.
Two winning ideas addressed the issues of educating younger generations in financial literacy, and a third used technology to improve sustainability in fashion. The winners received access to B4i, Bocconi University’s Accelerator for Innovation, where participants will have the opportunity to develop their pitches into startups.
“Participating in the FTxBocconi Talent Challenge means seizing the exceptional opportunity to network with international experts, FT journalists, Bocconi professors and alumni and to fully understand how innovation works in the main sectors of a modern economy,” says Bocconi Rector Gianmario Verona.
FT’s chief commercial officer Jon Slade said “FTxBocconi is a great opportunity for all international students to understand how digital transformation is changing the future of business, taking them to the heart of digital disruption. FT Talent is a format that can take us a step closer to meaningful solutions to complex challenges.”
Participants were offered masterclasses on the impact of digital technologies held by Financial Times experts and were mentored by Bocconi alumni, university professors and FT experts and journalists including:
- Michael Spence, 2001 Nobel Prize Winner for Economics
- Gianmario Verona, Bocconi Rector
- Vittorio Colao, former CEO Vodafone, Special Advisor at General Atlantic and Chair of the Compensation Committee of Unilever PLC/NV
- Luca Mignini, former COO at Campbell Soup Company
- John Ridding, FT Group CEO
- Jon Slade, FT Chief Commercial Officer
- Tom Betts, FT Chief Data Officer
- Renee Kaplan, FT’s Head of Editorial Digital Development
- Jo Ellison, Editor of How to Spend it
- Andrew Jack, FT Global Education Editor
- Maija Palmer, Senior Reporter at Sifted
- Natalie Whittle, FT Weekend Development Editor
- Javier Espinoza, FT EU Correspondent in Brussels
- Chris Nuttall from #techFT, and many more.
The FT Talent Challenge is a three-day global programme aimed at generating ideas to challenge the future of business, managed by FT business development manager FT’s Virginia Stagni.
Bocconi University is a leading higher education institution of business and managerial advancements.
For more information about future FT Talent Challenge initiatives, contact virginia.stagni@ft.com.