FEP team, made up of students Constança Araújo, Inês Moura, Inês de Castro and Vasco Silva, accompanied by Faculty Advisor Renata Blanc, came first in the BI International Case Competition (BIICC), held in Oslo, Norway.
This is an annual competition that challenges university students from all over the world to solve case studies and present solutions to strategic problems in real companies.
In this year’s competition, Statkraft, the world’s leading renewable energy company, challenged participants from 12 universities to devise a strategy for managing end-of-life solar panels within 30 hours. The suggestions were then presented to a jury, which included the company’s Head of Sustainability.
The group of FEP students presented a solution for reusing and recycling solar panels, based on strategic partnerships with large groups of student residences in various European countries. The proposal consisted of implementing an innovative method that makes it possible to recover almost 100 per cent of the panels’ value.
“What distinguished FEP was above all the strong quality of the solution presented, the robustness of the analysis carried out and also the soundness of the financial calculations,” emphasises FEP lecturer Renata Blanc.
The BI International Case Competition was attended by a total of 12 teams: Aarhus University, American University of Beirut, BI Norwegian Business School, FEP, HEC Montréal, IE University, Maastricht University – School of Business and Economics, Smith School of Business, Queen’s University, Team Universities of New Zealand, Texas A&M University, Thammasat University and University of Navarra.
“These competitions are a unique opportunity for students to put into practice, in an integrated way, the knowledge they acquire in their degree programmes. They learn to identify problems, think in a structured way and build arguments to support the ideas they want to defend. They develop strong communication skills and learn to work as part of a team in a high-pressure environment. All this in a context that is as close to reality as possible: solving real cases that are assessed by professionals with strong business experience,” explains Renata Blanc.
The team is part of the FEP International Case Team (FICT), an FEP student organisation whose main activity is to solve case studies, under the guidance of Faculty Advisors and FEP Professors Renata Blanc and Catarina Roseira.
