Economic Zones World (EZW), the global developer and operator of economic zones, technology, logistics and industrial parks under the Dubai World Group, has been chosen as one of the twelve global corporate partners for this year’s Hult Innovation Olympics Program set to kick off around the globe at Hult International Business […]
Economic Zones World (EZW), the global developer and operator of economic zones, technology, logistics and industrial parks under the Dubai World Group, has been chosen as one of the twelve global corporate partners for this year’s Hult Innovation Olympics Program set to kick off around the globe at Hult International Business School’s campuses in Boston, London and Dubai.
Competing MBA-candidate teams will be working with senior members of EZW to develop big, bold innovations for the company. Hult and the Center for Innovation, Excellence and Leadership (IXL Center) chose EZW based on its longstanding track record of innovative projects and initiatives around the world, particularly the development of Jafza (Jebel Ali Free Zone), one of the world’s largest and fastest growing free zones.
The Innovation Olympics Program is an opportunity for mid-career MBA students to develop real solutions to the pressing challenges of leading multi-national organizations. Companies are able to “crowdsource” new ideas and insights from diverse international teams with students from over 60 countries.
Hamad Al Hashmi, Managing Director, Dubai Institute of Technology (an EZW initiative) set the bar high for the Hult student teams and is looking forward to what the teams come up with to support growth at EZW: “Our goal at Jafza, EZW’s flagship business, is to sustain Dubai as a global hub for logistics and trade. Innovation is not constrained by technology or industry. Learning through others and engaging fresh young minds is an essential approach EZW appreciates. Therefore our expectation is high to see new and challenging innovation from our association with IXL.”
At each company, the MBA-candidate teams follow a unique approach developed by IXL Center to generate breakthrough innovations in a seven week period from Mid-June to August. They present their proposals and the business case to the leadership team of the Corporate Partner at the end of the project. Each team is assigned a mentor, often an experienced strategy consultant. All students participate in the project before receiving a business degree.
Tyler McNally, Professor of Innovation at Hult, says Economic Zones World is a world class organization that has had great success particularly though its flagship Jafza. It’s a great challenge for Hult students to find new ways to maintain that success. We designed the Hult Innovation Olympics for exactly these types of big, audacious challenges.”
Hult, which started life as the first corporate university in the United States, places a strong emphasis on delivering a practical business education. The majority of its faculty has spent years in industry as well as academia. This ensures that students are taught concrete skills that apply to real companies.
To get a first hand feel of Jafza and its business model, a 22 member MBA student team from Hult International Business School visited Jafza today. The delegation was received by senior officials at the free zone and was taken on an extensive familiarization tour of the Jafza facility and systems.
Professor McNally concludes, “This partnership enables organizations to tap into the collective intelligence of Hult’s incredibly international MBA student body to focus exclusively on a key growth issue. It also represents a fantastic opportunity for our business students to leverage the knowledge they have accumulated over the course of their MBA program. It reinforces what a Hult MBA is all about – international, practical business education.”
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Media contact:
Adeti Changulani ,
World View Communications,
Dubai World,
Email: adeti.changulani@wvc.ae
Mob: +971 50 429 5576
About EZW
Economic Zones World (EZW) is the global developer and operator of economic zones, technology, logistics and industrial parks under the Dubai World Group. The company aims to create a robust network of infrastructure platforms of such zones and parks across the world with an objective to support the dynamic expansion of its rapidly growing international customer base. EZW’s current portfolio includes Jafza, one of the world’s largest free zones; Gazeley, a global developer of highly efficient, carbon positive logistics and industrial spaces; TechnoPark, a research driven business and industrial park, and Dubai Auto Zone, a comprehensive market place for the Auto industry. www.ezw.com
Jafza (Jebel Ali Free Zone) is built over an area of 57 square kilometers. It ranks among the worlds largest and the fastest growing free zones. In its 25 years of operation, Jafza has posted more than 320 times its growth in the number of companies growing from 19 in 1985 to over 6500 in 2010.
Situated between Jebel Ali Port the world’s 6th largest seaport and the upcoming Al Maktoum International Airport, the world’s largest cargo airport, Jafza is the only free zone in the world to be located between the two major logistic enablers. With a six lane highway Jafza will facilitate the transportation of goods (custom bound) from sea to air in under 30 minutes. Jafza is well positioned to enable its partners the fastest possible access to a market of over 2 billion people in South and West Asia, the CIS and Africa. www.jafza.com
About Hult International Business School
Hult International Business School, formerly the Arthur D. Little School of Management, is a NEASC and AMBA accredited business school. Established in 1964, Hult offers a unique one year MBA program to a diverse student body from over 50 countries. Its flagship MBA program received top rankings from both the Financial Times and the Economist Intelligence Unit. The school has five campus locations: Boston, London, Dubai, San Francisco, and Shanghai. Hult is partner of EF Education First, the world’s largest private education organization. www.hult.edu
About IXL Center
IXL Center provides education, training and certification programs to help corporate executives and managers whose organizations require growth through innovation. IXL’s MBA-accredited courses cover the full range of innovation management concepts enabling organizations to systematically and comprehensively connect the dots and drive successful innovation across the extended enterprise or build specialized innovation skills in functional areas such as technology, design and operations. Courses and certification programs are delivered via global training locations, eLearning environments and custom curriculum programs at an organization’s location. For more information, visit us at www.ixl-center.com.
