Global Academic Cup at EBRF 2011

Three research presentations held in the conference were chosen as finalists for the Global Academic Cup (GAC), launched in 2010 to steer research plans towards "winning business plans". In 2010, the criteria highlighted academic excellence, and the victory - Metso Award 2010 - was unanimously awarded to professor Dhrubes Biswas of IIT Kharagpur and his team.

This year, the criteria for choosing the winner were not only to academic, but also on-the-spot performance of the presenting scholar(s) in the ecosystem exercise. The shortlisted were:

Benoit Montreuil, Jean-François Rougès, Yan Cimon, Diane Poulin: The Physical Internet and Business Model Innovation

Mikko Ruohonen, Markku Turunen, Himadri Das, Gururaj Mahajan: Mobile Voice Service Deployment for Developing Countries: Case Rural India's Bottom of the Pyramid

Malcolm Smith, Robert Warren, Mavis McRae: The Stu Clark Centre for Entrepreneurship: A Case of Creating Tomorrow's Global Entrepreneurs

The winner was chosen by way of a crowdsourced playmaker decision - by the playmakers of the ecosystem exercise. After considering both classic academic and the ecosystem level exercise contribution, the jury awarded this year's GAC, GFP Award 2011, sponsored by Global Faculty Partners for Problems Worth Solving LP, to Benoit Montreuil and his team. The playmakers felt that the team's proposal for the research was significant and on the ticket for what was called for as a bold proposition for a global game in this conference. In addition, Benoit's contribution to the energy ecosystem exercise on Wednesday was a factor that tipped the scales to their benefit.