MDU students help bank to make use of the staff's ideas

Students at MDU have produced an innovation process for Sparbanken Rekarne in Eskilstuna. It is a process that will be implemented this autumn, with the purpose of being able to make use of the staff’s suggestions for improvement.

– We have produced a process for how an idea for improvement among the staff can reach the management, which in turn can ensure that the improvement is carried out. It feels so good that Sparbanken Rekarne appreciates our work and values what we have developed, says Raquel Martinez, one of the students behind the process.

When Sparbanken Rekarne wanted to produce a structured process to make use of the staff’s suggestions for improvement, the bank approached their collaboration partner MDU, which conducts research in innovation and change within organisations. Students on the Master’s programme in Innovation and Design were informed of the task and asked to come up with different suggestions for the project. In the ”Project Methods in Innovation and Design” course, the students Taehong Park and Raquel Martinez were given the task of managing the project, which has resulted in an innovation process that the bank will already be starting to use during the autumn.

– The students have done a really great job and have laid a very good foundation to build on. It’s been positive getting help from the students since in that way we have gained new perspectives on how we can go further in our innovation work, says Stefan Öhman, Sparbanken Rekarne.

Better understanding of the business

To be able to produce as good a process as possible, Taehong Park and Raquel Martinez focused on the user perspective. Through interviews with both staff and the management in the bank, the students investigated what the needs looked like, and thereafter were able to develop a process. The project went on for a whole semester, and the purpose of the course was that the students would learn about project methods in different forms.

– By managing a project for a real client, documenting the process and reflecting on what they have learnt, the students are able to test how things work on the labour market. In this course it’s all about ”learning by doing”, says Erik Lindhult, Course Coordinator at MDU.

– I’d had some working life experience when I started studying on this programme, and was a little anxious that I’d lose contact with the line of business. But it was the exact opposite. By doing a project together with companies and organisations I've learnt even more and got a better understanding of the business, says Taehong Park.