4th June, 2024
The annual MYOB Digital Challenge is back, with registrations open from now until 26th June.
Marking the 10th year of the Challenge, university students from across Australia and New Zealand can now register to compete in this year’s Digital Challenge and showcase their innovative tech solutions.
Young innovators from Australian and New Zealand universities are invited to register for the chance to demonstrate their talents and develop technology-centric solutions to a real-world business problem.
This year, participants will be competing for a share of the $10,000 prize pool — the largest in the competition’s 10-year history.
Co-ordinated in partnership with the University of Auckland Case Club (UACC), the competition aims to support and grow the skills of emerging local tech talent.
Since it launched in 2015, more than 2,000 students have taken part, and last year, students from 24 different universities across New Zealand and Australia made submissions.
Emma Fawcett, MYOB General Manager — SME, and first-time MYOB Digital Challenge judge, says she is looking forward to seeing the creativity amongst this year’s entries as they seek to solve business challenges in fresh, new ways.
“We know that the technology industry moves fast, so I’ll be looking out for comprehensive, smart, well-thought-out solutions,” she says.
“Entries should address the business opportunity, but also acknowledge the potential obstacles, be future-proofed, and consider the risks involved.”
Students have just over a week to develop their solution to the problem posed, sharing their concepts in video form for preliminary judging by a panel of MYOB and UACC representatives, who’ll be looking at both the feasibility and implementation of the ideas.
Six finalists are then selected on 10th July to move to the final stage, where they’ll receive tailored mentoring to further refine their ideas ahead of the MYOB Digital Challenge Trans-Tasman Final, to be held on 18th July.
During the final, each team will pitch their idea to Emma and returning judge, MYOB Chief Operating Officer, Caroline Rawlinson, as well as an external judge.
In previous years, representatives from companies such as Microsoft, Uber, AWS, EY, Grant Thornton, NZTech, Fonterra and ANZ have joined the judging panel for the Trans-Tasman Final.
In addition to the monetary prize pool, the unique experience of the Challenge offers other benefits for both students and education providers.
Students benefit from the opportunity to apply their course learnings, and showcase their skills and creativity to potential employers.
This gives business leaders a clear idea of their future employability. Meanwhile, for education institutions, the competition ties into overarching objectives to provide students with practical, real-world experiences, making them industry-ready.
The Challenge isn’t just rewarding for the participants, but the Final judging panel too.
Caroline Rawlinson enjoys seeing the passion and enthusiasm coming from some of the brightest young minds as they participate in the Challenge.
“Each year the Digital Challenge sees emerging entrepreneurs and future leaders showcase their skills, and test their abilities in a practical, real-world environment and it’s terrific to see this competition reach the 10-year milestone,” she says.
“It’s so important to develop and nurture our up-and-coming talent, and I’m excited to be part of it again.
“This year I’ll be keeping my eye out for inventive ideas with a clear understanding of the market opportunities and commercialisation options.
“It’s crucial that any solution is grounded in reality, and it would be exciting to see some new tech start-ups come out of this year’s cohort.”
As an example of what is possible, last year’s winners — Team BHK — developed a customer review management platform that uses generative AI and sentiment analysis to support business owners in replying to and understanding their customer reviews.
All the team members are interested in technology and aim to go into technological fields in the future.
“Competing in the Digital Challenge was such a great experience. If anyone is interested in entrepreneurship and technology, the competition allows you to learn so much — including the feedback from the judging panel of industry leaders,” shares Ethan Happy, who competed alongside team members Haeun Kang and Emily-Kei Brewerton.
Registrations for the MYOB Digital Challenge close at 11pm NZST / 9pm AEST Wednesday, 26th June 2024. For more information and to register, visit myobdigitalchallenge.com/