AU Challenges is a series of case competitions, where students from Aarhus University work in cross disciplinary teams to come up with innovative solutions for sustainable business development for external companies and organizations. Throughout the year, there will be events differing in size and focus.
In November 2022 you can participate in the Circle U. Challenge
We also host SME Challenges aimed at small and medium sized enterprises, where 20 approximately students at a time participate in a 1-day case competition in different SME's in Region Middle Jutland. Students can read more here, while SME's should read more here.
We host Challenges on demand at different times of the year based on requests from companies and organizations as well as clusters, who want to establish innovative collaboration with 30 - 120 students from different studies at Aarhus University. Former case companies are: Novozymes, Danske Bank, AURA Energi, Visit Denmark, Aarhus Municipality, Hedeselskabet, Ramboll, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus Airport, AART Architects and ARLA. If you are a company or an organization and you are interested, please contact Merethe Kruse.
AU Challenges has a strong focus on collaboration and learning experience. Therefore, each team gets a chance to present their solution to professional judges and get feedback.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are at the core of all the cases, which participants are asked to solve. Students thereby are not only part of AU Challenges – you also contribute to solving the much bigger goal of making the world a better place for future generations.
AU Challenges are open to all Danish, as well as all international 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th year students at Aarhus University. PhD students are also welcome. Apply here
You don’t need any prior experience with case competitions to join, since there will be ressources providing you with case solving and case presentation skills.
You don’t have to form a team beforehand – you can apply individually, and we match you up with the best possible team. You can also apply as a team, if your team represents at least two different faculties. And lastly, you can apply two study mates together.
In the application, you can select which of the case companies you would prefer, and we will do our best to meet your priorities.
In connection with the large AU Challenge there will be workshops conducted by top-professionals from Ramboll, providing you with basic case solving skills and presentation techniques. A visit to the case company is included in all challenges in order for you to learn about the company context for solving the case. You will also get to practise your new case solving skills in a mini case solving sprint in the case company.
The three winning teams in the large AU Challenge are offered a weeks' student job where they will work on realizing their solutions in collaboration with the case companies. When and how this takes place will be arranged to suit both students and case companies.
