UNM Anderson School of Management Hosts Inaugural Global Scaling Challenge

May 12, 2021 - Anna Dykeman

Global Scaling ChallengeThe University of New Mexico Anderson School of Management hosted its inaugural Global Scaling Challenge April 22-24, with 17 university teams participating from the United States, Europe and India, competing for more than $20,000 in awards and recognition.

Four teams took the top $8,000 USD prize: Indiana University Bloomington (Indiana), UNM Anderson School of Management (New Mexico), Stevens Institute of Technology (New Jersey) and Johannes Kepler University Linz (Austria).
The challenge is a live and real case competition experience where the student teams presented to three small, entrepreneurial firms in New Mexico seeking to significantly scale their enterprises. The event was held virtually over three days.

The three-round competition tasked participating teams and mentors with working to understand and solve complex scaling needs and challenges of the three New Mexico firms addressing current biological challenges in highly diverse environments. Teams consisted of up to four students at any postsecondary educational level and were mentored by faculty from their institutions to prepare for competition.

The three firms involved this year were BennuBio, a medical instrumentation company focused on flow cytometry; Build with Robots, a robots-as-a-service company focused on addressing COVID-19 needs; and Wildlife Protection Management, a firm addressing the Wild Horse problem on four continents.

“I found the organization, the different schools’ teams from Europe, India to the U.S., to offer very unique global interest in our company,” said Roch Hart, founder of Wildlife Protection Management.

“The teams did amazing research which validated what we already knew, but more importantly helped us to realize more potential we never thought of before. I really hope that UNM can continue this challenge. as it has the potential to challenge the global market and better our world, right here from Albuquerque.”

Judges included well-known global faculty, industry experts, firm leaders, venture capitalists and thought leaders.

Teams were provided information prior to the competition, including the firms’ value propositions and materials from the firms, as well as an artificial intelligence-based workup of potential customers, investors and acquirers; and written material prepared by Boston Analytics. Teams gave 10-minute presentations live to a judging panel and the subject firm, followed by 10-minute Q & A periods.

The three participating firms received innovative advice from the highly talented and diverse pool of students, faculty and mentors.

“We’re thrilled with the launch of this inaugural challenge and the global involvement,” said Mitzi Montoya, dean of the Anderson School of Management.

“University teams across three continents coming together around global scaling strategy, along with broad support from mentors, judges, sponsors and stakeholders, is an extraordinary experience. We are hopeful that the students’ work will help these New Mexico firms grow and create more jobs here as they do so. We’re proud of the teams’ thorough preparation and tremendous performance, and we’re excited to host next year’s challenge.”

For more information or to register for the 2022 challenge, visit http://www.mgt.unm.edu/global-scaling-challenge.