4 min read
Beyond the Buzzword: Inside S-Next's Innovation Project - Students Defend and Pitch
Innovation is one of the most frequently used words in education and business. It appears in strategies, campaigns, programme descriptions, and company presentations. Yet the more widely the term is used, the greater the risk that it loses its meaning.
Innovation expert Robert B. Tucker argues in The Rise and Fall of the Innovation Movement that innovation has increasingly become marketing language rather than a disciplined process for creating value. In a related reflection, Has the Innovation Movement Hit a Wall?, Tucker describes how some organisations embraced innovation without embedding it into the way they identify problems, experiment, and develop solutions. He argues that the next phase of innovation must focus on building practical capability.
At Steinbeis University – Schools of Next Practices, this distinction matters. Innovation should represent more than an attractive word used to describe a degree programme. Students must have opportunities to practise it, explain their decisions, test their ideas, and defend their work.
The S-Next Innovation Project puts this principle into practice.
What is the Innovation Project?
The Innovation Project is a required four-month team module. Students begin by exploring possible areas for innovation before forming interdisciplinary teams of three to five members.
Each team develops a project and prepares a business presentation outlining its proposed solution. The students then pitch their concept during a live Innovation Project Session and respond to questions from assessors. After the presentation, they have an opportunity to refine their work before submitting it for final assessment.
The project requires students to move beyond describing an idea. They must define a problem, develop an applicable solution, understand its potential users, and consider how it could function in a real business environment.
Note that the Innovation Project is mandatory for the following degrees:
M.A. Digital Innovation & Business Transformation
M.A. Data Analytics & Artificial Intelligence
M.Sc. HR and Change Management
M.Sc. Digital Innovation & Business Transformation
M.Sc. Data Analytics & Artificial Intelligence
MBA Digital Innovation & Business Transformation
PRISM becomes the first winning project
On 31 July 2026, PRISM was announced as the first winner of the S-Next Innovation Project. The announcement took place during the opening ceremony of the S-Next Summer Party, held to mark the close of the summer semester.
The winning team brought together students from three S-Next programmes:
Griffin Pithie and Nikita Inzhevatkin, MSc Business Management in Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence
Delaney Kelley, Transnational MSc Business Management in Digital Innovation and Business Transformation
Romina Mirshekar and Kian Mohajeri, MA in Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence
PRISM addresses the challenge of retrieving reliable information efficiently from complex business databases. The solution allows users to ask questions in plain language and receive reproducible, SQL-backed answers based on an organisation’s existing data.
The project aims to reduce the time required for manual data retrieval while improving consistency, transparency, and auditability. Most importantly, PRISM has moved beyond the concept stage. The solution is already being used within a company, although the organisation’s identity will remain confidential.
From a promising idea to a defensible business solution
The team’s assessment demonstrated why PRISM stood out. Its members showed a strong understanding of both the proposed technology and the supporting business model.
They clearly explained the product concept, target market, competitive positioning, and financial projections. Their business plan used relevant metrics, stated assumptions, and numerical estimates to show that the concept was realistic and carefully considered.
The assessors also questioned the students about their proposal. The team responded confidently and professionally, supported its answers with data, and demonstrated a clear understanding of the project’s technical and commercial dimensions.
That ability to defend an idea is as important as generating one. Innovation requires people who can examine a problem, develop a credible response, assess its feasibility, and explain why their approach deserves consideration.
PRISM offers an early example of what the S-Next Innovation Project is intended to achieve. It connects academic learning with business application and gives students the space to develop solutions that can create value beyond the classroom.
At S-Next, innovation becomes meaningful when students can apply it.
