GLENDALE, AZ - March 27, 2007 - A team of MBA students from Instituto de Empresa, Madrid Spain, took the top prize of $20,000 and earned the title "2007 Global Champions of Sustainable Innovation" March 24 at Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Ten teams from top business schools around the world competed March 21-24 in the final round of a sustainable innovation competition held in conjunction with Thunderbird's first Sustainable Innovation Summit.

An MBA team from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University won the second prize and $5,000, and a graduate team from Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, won third prize and $3,000.

The winning teams beat out eight other finalists including a Thunderbird Global MBA team from Costa Rica, a second team from Duke, and teams representing Vanderbilt, Purdue, the University at Buffalo the State University of New York, University of Florida, and Bainbridge Graduate Institute. More than 85 teams representing 45 universities in 13 countries competed in the competition.

Students in the final round of the competition developed innovative and sustainable business concept plans that addressed real-life challenges faced by global corporations Johnson & Johnson and Merck & Co. Inc. Each team had to address questions proposed by both companies. Merck's question involved opportunities for the company to shape the overall healthcare landscape in the emerging markets of China and India thereby producing sustainable markets for its products, and Johnson & Johnson's question involved how the company could provide its high-tech health care solutions in emerging and developed economies at an affordable price for growing middle and lower income consumer groups.

The winning solution for Merck involved ideas for the company to become a knowledge leader in rural markets by integrating technology to educate the rural consumers about health-care practices and solutions available for their unmet needs.

IE’s winning solution for Johnson & Johnson included ideas for closing the affordability gap by partnering with large corporations to provide affordable payment plans for employees in the middle and lower income markets.

"Innovative, real-world solutions presented by the student teams that participated in the Thunderbird Sustainable Innovation Summit exceeded our expectations in many ways," said Neil Currie, Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies. "We all gained new insights that will contribute to immediate action in the short term as well as help shape our responses to challenges that corporate and community leaders (including the students who participated) will continue to wrestle with for years to come. It was a privilege to participate in the creative process with the best and brightest MBA talent and experts from around the world, and we are already planning for the next challenge."

Philipp Pausder, the team captain from Instituto de Empresa, described the questions as quite tough, and said his team embraced the challenge and spent many long days and nights pushing themselves to develop their concepts. "All of this work paid off, and it is just a great feeling," he said. "It is just amazing how much we learned in that relatively short period of time - the research, our debates, and by talking to the speakers and judges. We all feel that sustainable innovation is needed, and being able to foster our abilities to innovate in a sustainable manner as part of the learning experience is just great."

The winners were announced March 24 at an awards dinner marking the final event of the Thunderbird Sustainable Innovation Summit, a four-day event that showcased real-world innovative business solutions that reflect a commitment to economically, environmentally and socially sound business practices.

"The summit demonstrated the power of integrating business thinking and sustainability thinking," said Greg Unruh, Director of Thunderbird's Lincoln Center for Ethics in International Management. "The teams showed that real gains come from innovative commercial solutions that simultaneously create business value as well as collateral social and environmental value. The Thunderbird Sustainable Innovation Summit and the participants are overcoming the myth that profit and sustainability are mutually exclusive."

Sponsorship partners of the Summit included Johnson and Johnson, Merck & Co. Inc., BillMatrix, Deloitte, Honeywell, Xerox and Net Impact.

About Thunderbird

In 1946, Thunderbird was founded as the first graduate management school focused exclusively on global business. It is regarded as the world’s leading institution in the education of global managers and has operations in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Russia and Asia. Ranked No. 1 in international business by U.S. News and World Report, the Wall Street Journal survey of corporate recruiters, and the Financial Times, Thunderbird is dedicated to educating global leaders who create sustainable prosperity worldwide. The school’s programs facilitate the development of the global mindset which is critical to managing effectively in different social, economic and political environments. More than 38,000 students have graduated from Thunderbird, and its alumni live and work in more than 140 countries. For more about Thunderbird, please visit: www.thunderbird.edu.

Thunderbird School of Global Management

Thunderbird School of Global Management

Founded in 1946, Thunderbird is the oldest graduate management school focused exclusively on global business. It is regarded as the world's leading institution in the education of global managers and has operations in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Russia and Asia. Ranked No. 1 in international business by The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News and World Report and the Financial Times, Thunderbird is unique in that it is dedicated to the task of producing global leaders who contribute to sustainable prosperity worldwide. The schools curriculum is based on the principle that to do business on a global scale, executives must not only know the intricacies of business, but also understand the customs of other countries and be able to communicate with different cultures. More than 38,000 students have graduated from Thunderbird, and its alumni live and work in more than 140 countries.

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