Teams are now signing up to compete in the inaugural MIT Sloan Challenge on May 8, a contest which will put teams of business leaders and MBA students in a race against time -- and each other -- to overcome a series of "crises" that threatens the successful launch of a new product.
Using mobile equipment, teams will navigate through Boston and Cambridge searching for creative solutions to problems that may come in the form of an unexpected cash shortfall, the recent announcement that a competitor is introducing a similar product or a newly detected "bug" in the product.
As teams overcome each of five crises, they will report their progress to "command central," earning points and receiving a new challenge. The event will culminate in an awards ceremony followed by a dinner reception.
Up to 25 teams, each consisting of three business leaders and two MBAs or faculty members, will take part, including an MIT/Sloan "Dream Team" with members including Alex d'Arbeloff, chairman of the MIT Corporation and founder of Teradyne; Professor Glen Urban, dean of the Sloan School; and Associate Professor Rosalind Picard, the NEC Career Development Professor of Computers and Communications at the Media Laboratory.
For more information, call x3-8639.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on April 29, 1998.
