Fostering innovation and sustainability with the Invictus Challenge

In 2020, during one of the COVID-19 lockdowns, Gino Zabeo contacted the University of Bath’s School of Management as a representative of the Institute for Chartered Accountants England and Wales (ICAEW). The two institutions had a previous connection, with the ICAEW engaging with students to provide opportunities and experiences during their studies.

Gino wanted to know: is there anything we could be doing to help maintain student engagement, while the world has been pushed into remote connections?

ICAEW members include representatives from a plethora of businesses, locally and nationally, so provided a fantastic mechanism to connect students with companies across the region. For many students, it became tricky to develop employability skills — teamwork, problem-solving, presentation skills — during lockdown. So, the Invictus Challenge was born: a competition that students could enter to pitch an idea for a business.

The annual challenge has run four times, with a different theme each year. Most recently, the Invictus Challenge offered students the opportunity to address some of the sustainability challenges the University of Bath is facing, such as reducing carbon emissions to meet net zero targets.  

They kicked off with a workshop by Pam Barbato, from Action Net Zero — one of the ERA Network partners, alongside University of Bath’s School of Management and Transform ESG — who explained the deep challenges that local organisations face concerning emissions. Pam encouraged students to think deeply about what could be put in place that would potentially have a lasting and sustainable impact on businesses and the planet.

Suggestions included everything from the installation of a bicycle escalator on the hills around Bath to encourage green travel, an app that would help the university get an in-depth view of staff travel emissions, to the winning entry: a micro-donation scheme. The money raised from said scheme would be used to create a sustainability development fund for students to run sustainable projects, after which the profits would be used to offset carbon emissions.

By fostering connections between students and businesses, the Invictus Challenge is a valuable platform for collaboration and innovation. The challenge not only helps students build skills but also contributes to a more sustainable future for the local community.

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