Ignite

Power your ideas

Deloitte U.S India

Ideation Challenge 2010
 Ideation Challenge 2010

Background and premise

Some of the largest and most reputed companies today were started by students out of their dorm
rooms with friends and nothing more than a brilliant idea.

As one of the leading professional services firms in the world, we are constantly looking for new
ideas. Our success as an organization comes from the culture of innovation we foster not just
amongst our own professionals but even through our every engagement with our clients. Above and
beyond homegrown and industry-driven ideation, as an organization we are on the constant lookout
for newer, brighter and more ground-breaking ideas.

Experience tells us academia and students have always been some of the greatest source of ideas.
We recognize the idea germination capabilities of an academic environment. The Deloitte U.S. India
Ideation contest, also known as Ignite, is our attempt to tap into this rich vein of new thinking.

The contest is designed to push students to look into the future and simulate being innovators
predicting and working through trends that will potentially impact businesses in 2015. A secondary
objective is to familiarize students with the world of professional services. Students get a glimpse of
the different professional opportunities that services firms can offer.

In addition to numerous monetary prizes and recognition, teams that qualify for the latter rounds of
the contest will get a „crash course‟ in new service development, a skill that can be leveraged in any
field of work they opt to begin their career in.

Participating colleges
One of our primary objectives, as we look for new ideas, is diversity of thought. Therefore, we have
opened this contest to students from a select set of schools across the country. These are top-tier
institutions from various disciplines – engineering, management, commerce, arts, science, design,
media and advertising. Over the course of this contest, the best minds from the country will have a
chance to identify future trends, collaborate and develop new ideas and solutions for global
businesses to succeed in the future.

As used in this document, “Deloitte” means Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed
description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries.Copyright © 2010 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved.
Member of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited

Ideation Challenge 2010 1

 The competition
The challenge consists of multiple rounds where students work either individually or in teams. All
through the challenge Deloitte professionals will mentor students and guide them through the
process. At the start, students have to identify a potential trend in an industry of their choice. While
guidance will be provided on the types of ideas students should explore, very few limitations will be
placed on what they submit to encourage out-of-the-box and tangential thinking – a Deloitte
signature experience. Students have multiple opportunities to submit ideas and all significant entries
will receive feedback. Students will be required to conduct extensive research and can leverage any
source of their choice. An idea submission consists of a succinct description of the trend and the
potential problem it is likely to cause for businesses and their recommended solution for the same.

Based on the ideas submitted, 15 ideas will be shortlisted for the following rounds. The shortlisted
teams will then be asked to build out in-depth business cases. Mentors from Deloitte U.S. India firms
will start providing more direct guidance to help the teams build out the business cases.
Collaboration among teams is a critical part of the competition and teams will be invited to comment
and provide thoughts on other ideas. Teams have the option of incorporating some or all of these
comments into their idea as they build out the business cases.

Based on the quality of business cases received, the top six teams will be identified. These teams
will be invited for the final presentation before an eminent panel of Deloitte Partners and senior
leadership. Teams are given the choice of the presenting mode and medium, again with very few
limitations.

The finale will be an opportunity for the participants to learn more about Deloitte, its culture and its
people. They will get significant opportunities to interact with Deloitte leadership and various
professionals. The event will culminate in the idea presentations. The judging panel from the firm will
quiz the contestants during the final Q&A sessions, after which the top 3 winners will be chosen.

Timelines
The contest is set to begin in October and will run for over a month. There will be specific deadlines
for each round, all of which will be communicated to students at the start of the competition.

Prizes
The prizes for the competition include both knowledge exchange and monetary prizes. The winning
team walks away with a prize of US$ 10,000. The first runners up will win Apple iPads, while the
team placed third will win iPods. In addition to this, teams get to understand how a professional
services firm works. They get to interact with senior leaders and professionals of Deloitte. They also
get extensive mentorship and guidance from Deloitte, which will be helpful throughout their careers
irrespective of the field of work they choose.

Conclusion
The primary objective of this contest is to cascade our culture of innovation amongst the student
population and generate and identify fresh ideas from students. We believe that the novelty of the
contest along with the mentorship and collaboration through the contest duration will help generate
great new ideas, while the extended engagements with students will help us identify the best talent.
Students on the other hand will walk away with a great experience and a lot of learning. We hope
that a number of them will choose professional services as a career destination, going forward.

Copyright © 2010 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved.

Member of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited