Students-as-Adaptive Innovators

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Students-as-Analytical Thinkers & Adaptive Innovators = Work-based Learning

Look at our students' past work!

The Center for Business Analytics' mission statement states we are here, “to help individuals, businesses, and our community grow and succeed in our global digital economy.” Our two primary goals are to increase impact and awareness through research, education and service, and drive engagement at the intersection of business and academics.

Students have the unique ability to bring creativity, fresh insights, and apply innovative approaches towards achieving real business outcomes. Students-as-Adaptive Innovators was created to help organizations co-create opportunities to engage our students and researchers to work as consultants on existing business problems or cultivate new opportunities, and improve the processes and performance of organizations with data, analytics, design, and service thinking. These live consultative projects typically include data collection, analysis, demo, service/digital transformation plans and recommendations. Under the direction of Milgard faculty advisors, teams of three to six students, T-shaped analytical thinkers and adaptive innovators, use strategic thinking, operational excellence, complex problem solving, creativity, and teamwork skills to tackle an organization’s challenges and create value-added services.

How it works

Companies	Propose a project for review by The Center for Business Analytics @ Milgard School of Business
Industry sponsors	Identify a focus for a project of major interest to you (problem or opportunity) Assign a key associate to act as project coordinator and be readily accessible to the students make sure students have access to the people and internal information they need to do the project Identify an executive sponsor for the project Reimburse the student teams for out-of-pocket expenses At the end of the project, students will be given an opportunity to give a final presentation to the senior management (sponsor/champion) of this project
Teams of 4 to 6 students	Are matched to a project faculty mentor
Industry sponsors	Provide a technical mentor to meet with the team weekly for the duration of the project
Student teams	With the help of their technical and faculty mentors, have hands-on experience to demonstrate distinctive knowledge and skills to solve existing business problems or cultivate new opportunities, and improve the performance of organizations through live consultative projects that typically include data collection, analysis, prototype demo, digital transformation plan and recommendations

Benefits to Companies

Leverage fresh student insights and receive help applying new, innovative approaches
Opportunity to gain a fresh approach to an industry problem
Access non-exclusive commercial licenses to any IP developed by diverse student teams or UW employee through the project
Have access to students and graduates who will have the most current knowledge and skills (e.g. business analytics, data science)
Gain insight into student skills and knowledge for more efficient and effective recruitment
Strengthen community ties to the Milgard School of Business and the University of Washington Tacoma
Great opportunity for professional development in leadership and/or project management for industry mentors
Provide Milgard Schools students valuable, career-relevant experiences in applying classroom skills to address real world problems

Non-disclosure and Confidentiality

All project information will be kept confidential in-class environment unless permission for release is obtained from the Client.
Some clients may request team members to sign Client’s non-disclosure agreement to ensure that commercially sensitive projects are treated with full confidentiality.
Confidential Information includes all data, reports, records, trade secrets, verbal communications, and/or other materials obtained from the Client both prior to and subsequent to duration of this course.
The Student Consultants, Faculty Advisors and Alliance Partners shall not use or exploit the confidential information for any purpose other than for education and completion of the Course.
All information provided to the student team is held confidential, to be shared only within the classroom setting.

We are only considering select organizations for participation who agree to

identify a focus for a project of major interest to you
make sure students have access to the people and internal information they need to do the project
identify an executive sponsor for the project
assign a key associate to act as project coordinator and be readily accessible to the students
reimburse the student teams for out-of-pocket expenses

You are invited to benefit from a team of advanced Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) or MBA students working on an important actionable project for your organization.

MSBA
Applied Project: Digital Transformation 4 phase comprehensive business analytics and digital transformation assignment or project
July - May
40 Weeks 7-9 Projects 3-6 students consultants per team 5-6 hours per week per consultant
Proposal Due: June 8, 2020

Your project will support students’ learning by giving them the opportunity to apply their studies and develop consulting skills as part of their professional development.

SUBMIT A PROJECT PROPOSAL