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Champions Team (from left: Pi Shuheng, Chen Yue, Wang Zihao, Hu Gaoda, Lin Zihan, Huang Jifei)
Our student teams from NUS Master of Science in Business Analytics have swept the top three positions at the annual Huawei-NUS Innovation Challenge. The three teams fended off competition from some 100 teams from polytechnics and universities to win attractive cash prizes. The first team won SG$ 10,000, while the second and third-placed teams won $5,000 and $3,000, respectively.
After graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering, he worked as a Product Support Engineer at OSIsoft, a software company that develops enterprise software to manage production and operation data. During his time there, he saw first-hand how the company helped its customers harnessed and analysed their data to improve their operations. This left him intrigued by the power and value of data analytics.
“I wanted to become a specialist who can analyse and extract useful information from data. That is what prompted me to embark on the NUS MSBA programme,” recounted Vincent.
When selecting a suitable programme, Vincent knew he wanted a curriculum that would offer him a blend of technical and business knowledge and skills. This would ensure that he could apply the methodologies learnt to business cases effectively. “To me, the MSBA offers me the best of both worlds – the networking and soft skills one would gain from an MBA, and the hands-on and technical rigour of a computing programme,” he added.
The programme provided numerous opportunities to interact with industry partners. During the weekly industry analytics seminars, Vincent networked and learnt through the interactions he had with business analytics trailblazers.
The competition’s challenge to the student teams was to develop a stock-trading model that buys and sells at optimal prices. “We were thrilled to see the high energy and creativity displayed by the participating students,” said Charles Cheng, Managing Director of Huawei International.
In particular, the winning team’s ability to articulate their ideas caught the judges’ eye. “The team’s logical presentation and solution models, which incorporated various machine learning techniques, helped their models make the best decisions,” said Associate Professor James Pang, Co-Director of NUS Business Analytics Centre.
A Winning Mindset
For the champions, victory was not merely a culmination of talent, but a testament to their unwavering commitment. As the winning team, How To Train Your Dragon, hailing from the NUS Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) programme, aptly put it, “We had many ideas and meticulously evaluated each one to determine the best approach. Additionally, we engaged with relevant stakeholders to gain a clear understanding of the problem statement, allowing us to work towards a winning solution.” Their journey exemplifies the spirit of perseverance and the power of understanding the problem at its core.
A realistic challenge
The Innovation Challenge aims to give students experience building platforms in a real-world context. The participant teams’ trading models ran simulations based on historical stock data and were evaluated against the stocks’ actual market performance.
“We aim to provide a realistic work situation and platform for the students to gain practical experience,” said Associate Professor James Pang, Co-Director of NUS Business Analytics Centre.
“This innovation challenge provides a great opportunity to work with our classmates on a challenging topic, and this will enrich our further studies and work,” said the winning team’s Pi Shuheng.
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