Students of IE Business School develop new services for General Electric Healthcare division

Starting from today until Friday, October 17, the students of IE Business School’s International MBA program will be taking part in the Challenge Week, during which they will be working on developing new lines of business and making diversification proposals for GE Healthcare’s services portfolio. Guided by managers from GE and professors from IE Business School, the students will meet with professionals from the sector, visit hospitals, and interview senior professionals from the health industry. They will then use all the information garnered to develop business ideas and present the proposals before a judges’ panel comprised of executives from GE.

Previous intakes of IE Business School’s International MBA Program Business School have undertaken Challenge Weeks with companies like BBVA, Ikea, and startups launched by IE alumni. The overriding objective of the week is to immerse students in real, ongoing cases, which require innovative proposals.

"The Challenge Week is a unique opportunity to put into practice the added value of the MBA program in collaboration with a major multinational,” says Erik Schlie, Vice Dean of IE Business School’s International MBA. “Two hundred students from our IMBA program take part in this challenge and will spend the entire week working, using design thinking methodology, to present 28 innovative ideas to the GE Healthcare management team. It is the power of creativity that has a massive impact on the world of business."

For Luis Campo, President of GE Healthcare in Spain, “this type of collaboration highlights the economic relevance of the healthcare sector, in which it is increasingly necessary to have innovative ideas that afford greater efficiency in the management of the healthcare system, which in turn translates into better care of patients.”

This year IE Business School’s International MBA has a student body comprised of 76% international students from 68 countries, placing IE among the most diverse schools in the world. The program equips participants with a global vision of the world of business by means of an interactive learning process. Students undertake business and consulting projects with companies like GE Healthcare and also have the opportunity to take part in exchange programs with partner schools worldwide.