SUNGKYUNKWAN UNIVERSITY (SKKU), SEOUL, KOREA

The Department of Global Business Administration held an exclusive contest, "The World at your Fingertips Challenge", with the US headquarters of 3M Global for about two months from early September to early November.

The contest was held with the theme "Method of utilizing full-fingerprint recognition display to maximize user experience among four areas: security, entertainment, IoT, and emotional engineering."

It was a very innovative experience and challenge for students to push for an untact contest with foreign companies at a time when international exchanges are difficult due to the COVID-19. The participating students were able to develop not only practical skills but also internationalization capabilities by communicating with employees of 3M headquarter in English.

Students formed a team of individuals or less than four members, and a total of 46 students form 15 teams applied for the preliminary round. Among them, the teams Fingirls, 3M: Make this Moment Meaningful, E.T, and YAS were selected and had a chance to get into the finals. The final participants tried their best to prepare their final presentation with the feedback they received from the professors and 3M employees.

The final presentation was held in October 15 (Thur) and the 3M employees reviewed their presentations online. All of the teams presented their proposals for about 20 minutes and a Q&A with reviewing committees was conducted. Team YAS received the Grand Prize (500,000 won in cash and prize per person), team E.T received the Best Excellence Award (300,000 won in cash and prize per person), and teams Fingirls and 3M: Make this Moment Meaningful received Excellence Award (200,000 won in cash and prize per person). In addition, the winners will be given additional points when apply to 3M in the US and added the students to their special recruitment pool.

The ideas of Team Yas and E.T received great responses from the 3M employees, and as a result the representatives from each branch were invited and held an additional presentation on November 5 (Thur).

Hyunmin Lee, an Excellence Award winner, said, "The events of the industry-university collaboration contest, which are held by the Department of Global Business Administration, are meaningful because they provide insight into areas that have never been challenged. It was also very meaningful because we learned about designing an Empathic UX through public contests and creating and enhancing value in new technologies."

Suyong Yeom, another Excellence Award winner, said, "It was an opportunity to get a new perspective on technology and think about what the user's point of view is. I was very motivated to see 3M managers interacting with branches in various countries. I appreciate them giving me a chance to learn to fix my shortcomings."

Seunghun Baek, a Best Excellence Award winner, said, "Thanks to everyone in the Department of Global Business Administration for providing this opportunity, and it was a great time to learn everything from the preparation to the interim feedback and the final presentation."

Eunyoung Seo, the grand prize winner, said, "I'm very happy that my team worked together joyfully for a month. I think we wouldn't make it to the final without any of our team members. I also realized how important fresh ideas, peer-to-peer communication, presentation skills, and the persuasion process are."

Due to COVID-19, it is a difficult time to run exchange or overseas programs, yet the Department of Global Business Administration planned various online programs to substitute existing global activities. In line with the untact era, it will continue to introduce online exchanges that will enhance the internationalization and practical skills of students in the department.