RBC awards Ryerson students $20,000 for business innovation
concept
TORONTO, March 10 — RBC today announced the
student team from the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson
University as the national winners of the 2009 RBC Next Great
Innovator Challenge. 'OMEGA4' triumphed over submissions from
24 other universities and colleges across Canada to take home
the $20,000 grand prize for their winning idea, L.E.O., a
personal virtual online advisor.
"The teams in this year's challenge represented some
of the best and the brightest from schools across Canada,"
said Avi Pollock, RBC's head of Applied Innovation. "They
came up with compelling insights from other industries or
global regions with innovative concepts that could ultimately
benefit RBC clients."
This year's challenge asked university and college students
from across Canada to "Suggest an innovative concept,
product or process from another region or different industry
that Canadian financial services providers should adopt."
Working in teams of three or four, students were asked to
submit a unique and innovative idea related to the challenge.
"This challenge is all about continuing to focus on
innovation in all that we do and ultimately find new ways
to help our clients navigate the current and future environment
to create their financial dreams," added Pollock.
Submissions were received from 24 universities and colleges
across Canada and were evaluated by the RBC Applied Innovation
team and narrowed down to the top 15 submissions. The RBC
Innovation Council then reviewed these 15 submissions and
selected the top four team finalists. A fifth finalist team
was chosen after more than a record-breaking 20,000 votes
were submitted through a peer-voting selection process, in
which the Council invited the public to choose the last finalist
from five additional challenge submissions.
A team from York University came in second place, followed
by three runners up: two teams from the Rotman School of Management,
U of T and a team from the University of Waterloo.
Additional details on the RBC Next Great Innovator Challenge
can be found at: www.nextgreatinnovator.com.
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Media contact:
Jackie Braden, RBC media relations, 416-974-2124, jackie.braden@rbc.com
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Hi-resolution
picture in colour (jpg, 357kB)
Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University
graduate students Jonathan Chiriboga, Carey Gibson, Binh
Lu and Zuzana Fabian named grand prize winner of the 2009
RBC Next Great Innovator Challenge and were awarded $20,000
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