Suitable for Business 2012 was won by Anne Bech, Lene Wie Krog, Sofie Nielsen and Stine Ilum - four anthropologists from Copenhagen University. We have received some comments from the winner team, which we have permission and possibility to share.

 Lene Wie Krog tells: “Suitable for Business was a very valuable experience, one that I will remember in the years to come. I learned a lot about the strengths and weaknesses of my own field of study and I enjoyed listening to the speakers at the conference. Furthermore, being part of Suitable for Business has opened new doors for me career wise and I can't wait to explore the new possibilities.”

Anne Bech says: “It was a really nice opportunity to meet students from other "soft" disciplines who are also interested in getting hands on experience with case solving and private business. It was nice to meet the jury, the real life businessmen, and to solve a real life case. I got a kick out of presenting our case solution the 2nd time for the entire jury and audience. It was really nice and funny to present our ideas and find out that they were actually really cool. The pep talks we got along the way were extremely helpful - the guys from venture cap are really talented!”

Sofie Nielsen also had a positive experience: “I learned a lot about the business world and what it takes to enter it as a social scientist, met a lot of interesting people and listened to some really exciting speakers”, and she continues “it is hard to point out one thing that was the best at Suitable for Business. If I have to, I would have to say, that I was very inspired by meeting so many other students with the same goal and the same wish as me: to show that human and social sciences are valuable for the business world. But then again, it was also very inspiring to hear all the different speakers, who made me reflect upon what I myself can do, to show the business world, that I have skills to offer.”

Anne Bech hopes to use the winner check from Unibrew for a trip to Berlin. The team also received the audience price, which included concert tickets from Nordisk Film and Pumpehuset.

Earlier today a team consisting of four anthropologists from Copenhagen University was announced as the winner of this year's Suitable for Business Case Conference. Their vision of an 'Urban Oasis' won over the majority of the judges as well as the audience and the four ladies took home both of the prizes available; four thousand kroner for the former and a goodie bag for the latter. The team, which consisted of Anne Bech, Lene Wie Krog, Sofie Nielsen and Stine Ilum were clearly overwhelmed upon being named the winners; as they put it, "we have hereby shown that anthropology is not just about a small island in the Pacific or a distant tribe in Africa." 

Many different solutions were presented and many creative ideas expressed. We at Suitable for Business were amazed at the inspiration and inventiveness presented and proud that you chose our case competition as the platform from which to excel! We would like to thank all the participants as well as the judges for an inspiring event which proves how Suitable the humanities and social sciences truly are!

To view more pictures from today, check out our Facebook page.

We are proud to reveal Pumpehuset as this year’s case! Pumpehuset is widely known as a concert venue in downtown Copenhagen. The creative duo Ronnie Hansen (current CEO) and Kristoffer Bramsen own the house together with the big media company Nordisk Film. The venue focuses mainly on subcultures, but it needs to expand its business and get new ideas from the ambitious and innovative case participants.

Today, Suitable for Business had the pleasure of presenting two women who have used their background in the humanities to pursue interests outside thereof.

First off, we were introduced to Mie Bjerre, partner at Copenhagen Living Lab, which assists public and private organisations in realising innovation and business potential. Mie has a background in European ethnology, realising while traveling that “understanding cultures, people and understanding why people are doing what they’re doing was interesting to me.” After completing her bachelor degree and studying in Amsterdam for some time, Mie felt she needed at practical aspect to weigh against her theoretical knowledge; this she got through an internship at Rambøll Management Consulting.

The second day of the Suitable for Business conference 2012 was opened by an informative presentation by Francesco Avvisati of the OECD entitled “Who Will Be Suitable For Business?”. Through his work as an analyst at CERI, Centre for Educational Research and Development at the OECD, he is part of the pioneering research group, looking into emerging trends and how universities should act consequently.

Innovation has been identified a the special ingredient which makes individuals successful and allows them to create value for the future. The unifying principle of the innovation strategy as applied by the OECD is the empowering of people to innovate. The two trends identified in the labour market are globalisation and technology.

Last night, Suitable for Business invited the case participants to spend an evening in the company of Future Navigator. The people of Future Navigator concentrate their efforts on bringing out the best in people and helping them visualise their better tomorrow through Future Based Ideas Development. The goal is to empower people in their ability and foundation to create new meaningful concepts and services. In other words, using the future as a springboard for success – today.

We were joined by Henrik Good Hovgaard who gave us a presentation on realising one’s passion: “people don’t buy what you do but why you do it.”

Following the keynote speech by Henry Etzkowitz, the audience was invited to partake in a panel debate on how the social sciences and humanities can create value in future business life, more specifically, what is required of said students to be able to enter the professional business world. 

The panel consisted of Sverre Raffnsøe, Dr. Phil and Professor at CBS, Sara Gade Hansen, chief consultant at the Confederation of Danish Industries, Morten Løkkegaard, CEO of Humanostics, and Ingrid Stage, President of the Danish Association of Masters and Ph.D.s. Acting as a moderator for the debate was Alan Irwin, Dean of Research at CBS.

Suitable for Business is officially open for business! The conference has been kicked off with an educational keynote speech by Henry Etzkowitz on the Entrepreneurial University and the Triple Helix, a concept spanning the interaction of three spheres, namely those of university, government, and industry. Mr. Etzkowitz emphasised the need for interdisciplinarity, highlighting several examples of successful inventions rooted in collaborations across disciplines. 

Suitable for Business has opened the doors to this year’s conference and case competition. Before we kick off the conference we have gathered the ten teams (or representatives thereof) in order for them to become acquainted with Suitable for Business  and each other. 

For the first round of the finals of Friday, the ten teams will be split into two streams, stream X and stream Y. Two teams will be selected from each stream to compete in the finals. Today, the case committee has revealed which teams will compete against which.