Ulysses Digital Student Competition on Family Business – Past editions

2023 Ulysses Contest

Research team: Dr. Paola Rovelli, Dr. Marco Mismetti

External partners: University of Szeged, Management Center Innsbruck, University of Vienna, Univations Gmbh, Agentur fundus

Competition material

Submission template (for the participants to the competition)

Kick-off event / 11.04.2023

Call for participation

Newsletter

Newsletter 6 / June 2023 – Celebrating Innovation and Inspiring Entrepreneurial Education!

Newsletter 5 / March 2023 – Take part in the Ulysses students contest and win 3000 euros with your solution!

Newsletter 4 / November 2022 – The road to case studies compilation

Newsletter 3 / October 2022 – Everything you need to know about family firms

Newsletter 2 / September 2022 – Things you didn’t know about case studies

Newsletter 1 / February 2022 – Welcome to our first newsletter

Press release

Online press release / 24.02.2023 Tageszeitung

Online press release / 20.02.2023 unibz LinkedIn

Online press release / 20.02.2023 unibz news (EN)

Online press release / 20.02.2023 unibz news (DE)

Online press release / 20.02.2023 unibz news (IT)

Online press release / 26.03.2022 unserTirol.com

Online press release / 16.03.2022 Südtirol NEWS

Online press release / 16.03.2022 unibz LinkedIn

Online press release / 16.03.2022 unibz news (DE)

Online press release / 16.03.2022 unibz news (IT)

News

24.05.2023 | Winners of Ulysses Contest 2023

The Ulysses Contest, being the first European digital student competition of its kind, is over!
We congratulate all participants on their great work and proudly present the 3 teams who reached the highest points with their presentations on May 23rd:

Winning teams of 2023

  • 1st place: Team 21 – David Kalotai, Zénó Manó Kovács, Pauline Schrader and Klemens Ehrenhöfer
  • 2nd place: Team 7 – Till Herrmann, Eric Geßwein, Anita Borsato, Carlo Di Ciò
  • 3rd place: Team 13 – Maria Caliari, Marta Bosco, Youssef Gerges, Thi Thanh Mai Le

THANKS to all who participated to the Ulysses Contest – you can be very proud of yourself! Memories, experiences, learnings & connections which will hopefully last forever.

02.05.2023 | Winners of Round 1

Thank you so much to each and everyone who participated in yesterday’s live event via Youtube! We’re still thrilled with excitement about the overwhelming quality of student teams’ submissions – a big VERY WELCOME to all of you!!! 🙂

Out of 23 teams, all teams delivered in time and the majority of the concepts was exceptionally high in quality. The 9 winning teams of round 1 were the ones with the most points allocated by project partners with acadamic background but also experience in business. The choice for was really tough and things like use of literature, practicability as well as coming up with bold, creative and innovative ideas were counted in the methodology of distributing points.

9 winning teams of Round 1

  • Team 1: Team Odyssey
  • Team 6: Success Sprinters
  • Team 7: TEAC Solutions
  • Team 9: Solvans
  • Team 10: Nova
  • Team 13: Business Squad
  • Team 19: Alpine Allies
  • Team 21: Profile & Co.
  • Team 23: AUTH TEAM

12.04.2023 | Virtual kick-off event

On Tuesday 11 April at 11AM the time has come: the hot phase of the Ulysses Digital Student Competition on Family Business has officially started! Representatives of the project partners and family firms have been participating in a live YouTube Kick Off Event with over 60 students from around the world.

In total an overwhelming number of 93 students from 25 (!!!) different countries have registered and been formed into 23 teams. At the Kick Off Event the first three family firm case studies were finally revealed and allocated to the eagerly waiting student groups.

The event was not only a great opportunity to help all participating students to understand everything about the contest, but also to get to see some faces, ask questions and read comments from other participants.

For the next 14 days, students will now have the unique chance to work on real life family firm case studies with complex challenges & problems and will have to find innovative and creative approaches for solutions. From 25 April to 2 May all case study results will be evaluated. Only the best solutions (max 9 teams) will be selected and proceeded to the second round. We wish all students good luck & a great experience!

Stay tuned for further news & updates! 🚀

P.S. You couldn’t join live? No worries if you didn’t make it, the recording can re-watch anytime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es7r6Hs33Ps

01.02.2023 | Call for participation

“Ulysses Contest – Digital Student Competition on Family Business” (ULYSSES) focuses on providing a first-hand insight into family firms, gathering real-life case studies from these firms so that university students would be able to gain practical entrepreneurial learning experiences and to enhance their digital skills. ULYSSES will provide this combined chance by setting up the 1st digital European student competition that focuses explicitly on family businesses.

In this competition, students work in international groups of 4 members to solve real-life case studies provided by family firms.

Short facts

  • Title: Ulysses European Digital Student Competition on Family Business
  • Time: First round: April 11-25, 2023 – Second round: May 2-16, 2023
  • Final live online presentation: 23rd of May
  • Format: Self-paced, Online competition
  • Group size: 4 students per team (registration possible individually or in pairs)
  • Methodology: self-paced and task-driven solving of cases in a virtual format
  • Language: English
  • Prizes: 1st place: 3,000 EUR; 2nd place: 1,500 EUR; 3rd place: 500 EUR
  • Registration Deadline: March 21, 2023

Click here for more details

Click here to download the call for participation

16.11.2022 | Third press release now available

It is time to give you some updates about the Ulysses Contest!

To do so, we have prepared the third press release (available in English, German, Italian and Hungarian) which can now be found in the download section of the project website or downloaded here below.

12.10.2022 | Second press release now available

It is time to give you some updates about the Ulysses Contest!

To do so, we have prepared the second press release (available in English, German, Italian and Hungarian) which can now be found in the download section of the project website or downloaded here below.

21.09.2022 | Ulysses Bolzano Partner Meeting

On September 19th-20th, the partners of the Ulysses Erasmus+ project gathered together in Bozen to discuss about the project development and to prepare the launch of the competition.

The team

20.06.2022 | Things you didn’t know about case studies – Part 2

What is the uniqueness of family firms and their case studies?

Especially in the family business field, case studies allow to provide a deeper understanding of family firms’ specific features and differences in their decision-making process in contrast with non-family counterparts.

The Ulysses consortium has already received the consent of several important family businesses in various sectors – such as tourism, wine and high-tech – to provide information and availability for the development of case studies to be used in the Ulysses competition.

The existing case studies cover some of the main topics of research in the field of family business, such as:

  • Succession planning
  • Family conflicts
  • International entrepreneurship
  • Values, identity and leadership
  • Innovation and dynamic capabilities
  • Resilience in disruptive times (e.g., Covid-19)

… and many other ideas are on the way, so stay tuned!

13.06.2022 | Things you didn’t know about case studies – Part 1

What is a case study?

A teaching case study is a snapshot of a management situation that presents a problem, a challenge or an opportunity faced by an organization. The decision-maker, such as an executive, a manager, or an entrepreneur, is the protagonist of the case.

By reading and examining the situation from a particular organization member’s perspective, students will identify with the organization and feel the urge to solve the problem.

The business case studies will touch upon different aspects of the real life in family businesses. But they will all have some common aspects. In particular, they will be specific, general and urgent:

  • Specific, because the decision focus of the case study should be situation-specific and concrete.
  • General, because the decision focus of the case study should also support a deeper and broader discussion and serve as a general lesson on how to approach similar issues.
  • Urgent, because the decision focus of the case study should be of immediate importance.

23.05.2022 | Get ready to take active part in solving real-life family business issues

Family businesses are key economic actors all over the World. Within the framework of the Ulysses contest, students can now help family-owned companies of 3 different countries (Hungary, Italy and Austria) to solve real-life issues in an international online competition.

As members of an international team, students will solve case studies that present the issues and challenges of these real family businesses, having a risk-free try at experiencing situations that those who start and run a business must cope with. In so doing, students can learn about the operation of family businesses in practice, as well as gain international insights as the contest involves firms from three countries.

15.03.2022 | First press release now available

It is time to spread the word about the Ulysses Contest!

To do so, we have prepared a first press release (available in English, German, Italian and Hungarian) which can now be found in the download section of the project website or downloaded here below.

06.12.2021 | The Ulysses video is out!

We proudly present our first Ulysses video which nicely explains what the Ulysses contest is all about! Watch the video to find out about our mission, goals, challenges and – most importantly – how students, lecturers and family firms can benefit from it!

01.12.2021 | Join us on our social media channels!

Of course, a digital student competition needs its own social media channels to get known and out into this world! Have your pick and spread the word in your favorite social media channel.

If you have any further questions, send us a DM or drop us an email at info@ulysses-contest.eu

To keep being updated about news on the Ulysses Contest, register to our newsletter!