Tag: challenge

CFA Research Challenge 2023: Politecnico di Milano wins the Italian phase

Posted on | by Marta Re Ferrè | Leave a Comment on CFA Research Challenge 2023: Politecnico di Milano wins the Italian phase
Five students from Politecnico di Milano beat Federico II University of Naples and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice with Technogym’s financial analysis and are now preparing for the EMEA regional competition. The world grand final will be held on 3 May 2023.

 

The School of Management team of Politecnico di Milano wins the Italian final of the CFA Research Challenge 2023, a global finance competition sponsored by CFA Institute and promoted in our country by CFA Society Italy with the support of PwC Italia and Kaplan Schweser.

The final involved 10 universities, 48 students and over 30 professionals and took place at the PwC Italia headquarters in Milan  on Tuesday 28 February. Teams from the following universities participated in the Italian phase, coordinated by CFA Society Italy: Università Cattolica of Milan, Politecnico di Milano, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Tor Vergata University of Rome, University of Florence, University of Bologna, Sapienza University of Rome, University of Pavia, Polytechnic University of Marche and Federico II University of Naples.

Under the guidance of professors Laura Grassi and Marco Giorgino and mentor Giacomo Saibene, Management Engineering students Alberto Giannetto, Gabriel Mazzante, Andrea Marconi, Giulio Galloni and Alberto Peccol presented their financial analysis on the Technogym stock to a jury of six financial sector experts: Roberto Sollevanti, Andrea Bonfà, Mauro Baragiola, Alberto Mari, CFA, Angelo Meda, CFA, CIPM, Pinuccia Parini.

Politecnico di Milano will continue directly to the EMEA regional semi-finals (Europe, Middle East and Africa), to be held next 6-7 April. As evidence of the high quality of our students and of the professionals who follow them, Italy already won the EMEA regional final in 2011, 2014, 2016 and 2022.

The world grand final will be held on 3 May 2023, where the EMEA, America and Pacific Asia winners will be competing against each other.

“This victory represents an important milestone in our professional careers, and we are proud of our hard work to achieve it. The CFA Research Challenge has given us the opportunity to measure ourselves against other students from other universities and to put into practice the topics we have studied during our academic careers.” These were the first words expressed by Alberto Giannetto, Gabriel Mazzante, Andrea Marconi, Giulio Galloni and Alberto Peccol, members of the winning Italian team. “We sincerely thank our teachers Laura Grassi and Marco Giorgino and our mentor Giacomo Saibene. Without them we would never have reached this milestone. We are looking forward to the next phase of the competition and feel confident moving forward.”

“Over the past 10 years, the Politecnico team has always been able to show its skill both at Italian and international level.” So said Politecnico di Milano professors Laura Grassi, Assistant Professor of Investment Banking, and Marco Giorgino, Full Professor of Financial Markets and Institutions. “As their professors, we are very proud of the skills that our School instils in them, allowing them to achieve these excellent results which are confirmed year after year.”

“After my experience of participating in the CFA Research Challenge as a student in 2011, it has been a great pleasure, as well as an incredible thrill, to mentor this time, helping this amazing team to challenge their limits and construct a solid critical analysis and careful financial evaluation.” said Giacomo Saibene, mentor of the winning team and member of the Italian team that won the world competition in 2011.

“The Research Challenge is an initiative that directs towards important objectives in the world of education and academia. Bringing students closer to the world of work by combining academic knowledge with the techniques and tools used by professionals in the financial sector is getting more and more relevant. Furthermore, we want excellence of our Italian universities to stand out at a European and global level.” commented Giuliano Palumbo, CFA, President of CFA Society Italy.

“In its work over the years, CFA Society Italy has forged a strong relationship with Italian universities to promote the principles of integrity and professional excellence among the younger generations.” said the project co-ordinator, Giuseppe Quarto di Palo, CFA. “We are happy to be able to offer universities and their promising students the opportunity to measure themselves in a realistic competition aimed at reproducing the experience of research offices at management companies or investment houses. The best students are also offered scholarships to access the CFA Programme: our wish is to enable them to obtain a globally recognised certification in the financial sector.”

 

Politecnico di Milano won the Italian final of the CFA Research Challenge 2022

Posted on | by Beatrice Grillo | Leave a Comment on Politecnico di Milano won the Italian final of the CFA Research Challenge 2022
Five engineers of the School of Management beat University Federico II Naples and University of Pavia with the financial analysis of Reply and prepare for the EMEA regional final. The world final will be held on 16 May.

 

The team from the School of Management of Politecnico di Milano won the Italian final of the CFA Research Challenge 2022, the global finance competition organised by the CFA Institute and promoted in Italy by CFA Society Italy with the valuable support of FactSet Italia and Kaplan Schweser.

The final round took place in Reply’s Milan headquarters on Tuesday 1 March, involving ten universities, 50 students and over 30 professionals. The Italian phase, coordinated by CFA Society Italy, saw the participation of teams representing the following universities: Università Cattolica, Politecnico di Milano, Ca’ Foscari di Venezia, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, University of Florence, University of Bologna, Libera Università di Bolzano, University of Pavia, Università Politecnica delle Marche and Università di Napoli Federico II.

Students Gianluca Dente, Alberto Gegra, Andrea Rampoldi, Alessandro Criniti and Francesco Saverio Pirolo, under the guidance of professors Laura Grassi and Marco Giorgino and CFA mentor Alberto Mari, presented their financial analysis of Reply’s stock to a panel of six experts from the financial sector: Mauro Baragiola, Luca Forlani, CFA, Marco Greco, Paolo Perrella, CFA, Patrizia Saviolo, CFA, and Carla Scarano. Second and third place went respectively to Università di Napoli Federico II and the University of Pavia.

Politecnico di Milano will go straight on to the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) regional final, which will be held on 28 April. As testament to the high quality of our students and the professionals who guide them, Italy already won the EMEA regional final in 2011, 2014 and 2016.
The World Final, on the other hand, will be held on 16 May 2022, pitting the winners from EMEA, the Americas and Asia Pacific against each other, and the winners will be officially announced on 17 May 2022.

“CFA Society Italy, in its many years of activity, has built a close relationship with the Italian universities to promote the principles of integrity and professional excellence to the younger generation”. CFA project coordinator Giuseppe Quarto di Palo said. “We are delighted to be able to offer universities and their talents the opportunity to measure themselves in a realistic competition, aimed at reproducing the experience of a research office of management companies or investment houses. We also offer the best students scholarships to the CFA Programme, in order to obtain a globally recognised certification in the financial sector”.

“The Research Challenge is an initiative that channels important objectives into the world of education and academia. It is becoming increasingly important to bring students closer to the job market, combining academic knowledge with the techniques and tools used by professionals in the financial sector. In addition, we want to highlight the excellent standards of Italian universities at European and global level”. Giuliano Palumbo, president of CFA Society Italy commented. “This project could not exist without the valuable contribution of the association’s volunteers and the partners who supported the initiative FactSet, Kaplan Schweser and Reply, companies that were researched by the students”.

“As Michael Jordan once said, talent wins games, but intelligence and teamwork win championships. I’d like to congratulate the students of the Politecnico di Milano who demonstrated not only above-average technical skills, but also and above all teamwork and spirit of cooperation aimed at achieving the final victory” stressed Stefano Di Rosa, CIIA, Senior Sales Rapresentative of FactSet Italia, sponsor of the Italian edition of the CFA Research Challenge since 2016.

“Year after year, the competition allows the best talents from Italian universities to pit their wits against professionals  of the highest calibre, increase their knowledge of the fundamentals of equity research, develop soft skills and compare notes with each other”. commented Politecnico di Milano professors Laura Grassi, Assistant Professor of Investment Banking, and Marco Giorgino, Full Professor of Financial markets and institutions. “We are very proud of our team’s victory, which rewards our five members for their great sacrifices, and in turn makes them a reference for future colleagues next year. For them, this is the best way of entering the professional world and for our university it is a further acknowledgment of our quality. We are now looking to EMEA, with the will, commitment and desire to replicate the same result”.

“The CFA Research Challenge was definitely the toughest challenge of our lives, and at the same time the most stimulating experience on both a professional and personal level. It was an incredible opportunity that allowed us to work closely with our CFA mentor Alberto Mari, and with our professors Laura Grassi and Marco Giorgino, whom we’d like to thank very much. We would also like to thank the CFA Society Italy for making this possible and we look forward to carrying our country’s flag high in EMEA,” were the first words expressed by the Politecnico di Milano team after the win.

 

Presenting Green SUIte: a sustainability challenge involving 60 corporate teams

Posted on | by Beatrice Grillo | Leave a Comment on Presenting Green SUIte: a sustainability challenge involving 60 corporate teams
Agos, Gruppo Enercom, Sparkasse, Gruppo Tea and the Politecnico di Milano School of Management, backed by the Startup Intelligence Observatory, are promoting and rewarding virtuous behaviour inside and outside the company, in collaboration with the Up2You startup. 

 

Green SUIte is an environmental challenge – organised in collaboration with Up2You, an innovative start-up and B Corp certified company that promotes sustainable development – involving the employees of Agos, Gruppo Enercom, Sparkasse, Gruppo Tea and the Politecnico di Milano School of Management with a view to raising awareness, educating participants, and triggering a virtuous, sustainable conduct.

The project springs from an idea developed by Agos and Up2You at one of the round tables of the seventh Startup Intelligence Observatory, one of the 46 Observatories of the Politecnico di Milano School of Management aimed at driving open innovation and contamination with start-ups.  Green SUIte is designed as a fun means of highlighting issues related to sustainability, in line with the goals of the United Nations Agenda 2030 and the ESG rating, through the active involvement of the employees of the participating companies. The event has been received positively, with about 600 of the companies’ 5,000 employees setting up 60 highly competitive teams.

For 12 weeks, the Green SUIte teams will take part in quizzes and missions aimed at developing a sustainability culture and an awareness of environmental issues, promoting the idea that being sustainable needn’t be tiring or boring. By engaging participants in small daily actions, such as creative cooking to reduce food waste, researching and bulk purchasing local, seasonal products, participating in shared mobility programmes, and making more virtuous use of technologies, greater awareness is raised on the environmental impact of each individual action, encouraging participants to be more environmentally friendly both inside and outside the company and to rethink their day-to-day lives from a new perspective. A case in point is the “Cross over to the dark side!” mission, in which participants will be encouraged to use their PCs and phones in dark mode. “Black is chic! But in addition to being cool (and making you feel cooler), the dark mode reduces energy consumption, and therefore CO2 emissions.” Difficult not to follow the Green SUite advice!

Green SUite is an innovative multi-company digital platform backed by a strong team spirit and concerned with involving business teams in sustainable actions. At the heart of the platform lies Play, a product by Up2You, the only company in Europe that, in addition to being authorised to manage Carbon Credits certified by VERRA and Gold Standard, does so using Blockchains.

This project has quickly become a virtuous example of Open Innovation, an approach that – partly aided by the pandemic – is increasingly proving to businesses the importance safeguarding our ecosystem while pursuing innovation and that collaboration is often key for developing solutions that can really change and have a lasting impact on a company and society as a whole.

“The Startup Intelligence Observatory’s 2021 research data speaks volumes: more than one third of all major Italian companies already collaborate with start-ups, recording a positive trend compared to previous years. A truly comforting piece of information for Italy’s entire innovation ecosystem; one that reveals a paradigm shift, underscored by a growing number of success stories,” says Alessandra Luksch, Director of the Startup Intelligence Observatory. The Green SUite project has been made possible by the activities developed by the Startup Intelligence Observatory to promote open innovation in enterprises and by its lively community of partner companies. This initiative just goes to show that no one can innovate alone, and that collaboration can quickly generate concrete results and widespread benefits.”

Poste Italiane partners with the students of the School of Management for a challenge on innovation

Posted on | by Mirja Calgaro | Leave a Comment on Poste Italiane partners with the students of the School of Management for a challenge on innovation
Students of the Politecnico di Milano School of Management present innovative solutions in response to the challenges posed by Poste Italiane in three specific areas of interest: rethinking the workplace after the pandemic, devising innovative digital payment solutions, and strengthening brand reputation.
 

The challenge, organised by Poste Italiane and the Politecnico di Milano School of Management, involved about 220 students of the Leadership&Innovation course of the Laurea Magistrale (equivalent to a Master of Science) in Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering. Split into 30 teams, the aim of the project was to bridge the gap between academia and the business world.

Rethinking the workplace of the future

The students were asked to focus on a very complex issue far removed from their everyday life: imagining the post-pandemic workplace, the workspaces of the future, so as to respond to new work needs increasingly centred on the use of digital collaboration technologies and remote working.
Drawing inspiration from the world’s most innovative companies, the students conjured up work environments that promote collaboration through spaces encouraging informal relationships among employees, so as to foster social cohesion – something that the pandemic has penalised considerably.

Solutions to encourage digital payments

The students also tackled another important issue, that of digital payments, which represent one of the most important innovations in the process of digitisation, for the growth not just of Poste Italiane but of the country as a whole.
The digital payment solutions developed focus particularly on environmental and sustainability issues by rewarding, for example, merchants who choose to join green projects. Poste Italiane places particular importance on this topic, and indeed has adopted the new Postepay Green card to kick off the conversion of payment products to environmentally friendly materials.
Many projects have also highlighted the importance of involving not only consumers and merchants, but also local associations with a view to promoting and financing local and neighbourhood initiatives. Moreover, the purchase of a particular service or product expresses personal tastes and preferences and therefore one’s own identity projected towards the outside world.

All the projects reveal the importance of engagement as a lever for reaching both merchants and customers, with some students going so far as to suggest the use of gamification to maintain a high level of engagement.

Strengthening brand reputation

Finally, the students had to tackle the challenge of strengthening the reputation of Poste Italiane among the younger Generation Z, with whom the Politecnico students themselves could easily identify, many of them being born between 1995 and 2001. The goal of this challenge was to convey a new corporate image, making it attractive for young users, both for professional purposes and for training and guidance. Several solutions were submitted: platforms and applications aimed at prompting knowledge of Poste Italiane among those external to the company; new methods of engagement through, for example, on-site events; and even the possibility of using new social channels to reach the target audience more easily.

Politecnico di Milano wins the Italian CFA Research Challenge

Posted on | by Veronica Rafaniello | Leave a Comment on Politecnico di Milano wins the Italian CFA Research Challenge

With the equity research report on Ferrari, the students of Politecnico di Milano defeat Università Cattolica and Università Politecnica delle Marche and are getting ready for the EMEA Regional phase. The Global Final will be held on April 22nd

 

Politecnico di Milano wins the Italian final of the CFA Research Challenge 2020, a world finance competition organized by the CFA Institute and promoted in Italy by FactSet, Fidelity International, Kaplan Schweser and PwC Italia.
The event took place remotely on Thursday, March 5th, following the provisions issued by the Ministry of Health in agreement with the President of the Lombardy Region, and involved nine universities, 43 students and over 30 professionals. The Italian phase, coordinated by CFA Society Italy, was attended by the teams representing the following universities: Università Cattolica di Milano, SDA Bocconi, Politecnico di Milano, Ca’ Foscari di Venezia, Università Carlo Cattaneo LIUC, Libera Università di Bolzano, Università di Pavia, Università Politecnica delle Marche and Università di Napoli Federico II.

Students Marco Aurélio De Oliveira Jesus, Luca Marconi, Matteo Muzio, Giovanni Pintus and Beatrice Sartori, under the guidance of faculty advisors Marco Giorgino and Laura Grassi and mentor CFA Alberto Mari, presented their investment case on Ferrari to a jury of six financial experts: Christian Alessandrini (PwC Italy), Alberto Chiandetti, CFA (Fidelity International), Gabriele Montalbetti, CFA, CIPM (Consultinvest), Marco Greco (Value Track), Pinuccia Parini (Family Strategy) and Carla Scarano (Anima SGR). The second and third place were awarded to Università Cattolica and Università Politecnica delle Marche respectively.

Politecnico di Milano will continue directly to the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Regional Final, which will be held on April 1st and 2nd, 2020. An evidence of the high quality of our students and the professionals who assist them, back in 2016, 2014 and 2011 Italy was successful in winning the EMEA regional final.
The Global Finals will take place on April 22nd 2020, bringing together the winners from EMEA, Americas and Asia Pacific.

“We are really happy with the result, which rewards every single effort made during these 4 months. The teamwork and the experience gained are, together with the victory, the biggest prize“. These are the first words expressed by the winning team of Politecnico di Milano. “We would like to thank CFA Society Italy for the organization of the challenge and in particular Mr. Quarto di Palo, Ferrari‘s Investor Relations team for the support and availability, our highly esteemed CFA mentor, Alberto Mari, who dedicated time, energy and above all never stopped believing in us, Prof. Marco Giorgino and Prof. Laura Grassi of Politecnico di Milano for giving us the opportunity to participate in this fantastic experience“.

“This year the company was certainly very challenging, a symbol of our country. We are very happy that our students’ work has been appreciated by the judges“, commented Marco Giorgino and Laura Grassi, respectively, professors of Financial Markets and Institutions and Investment Banking at the Politecnico di Milano. “Being the reigning champions and winning the Italian finals for many years now has generated some pressure and expectations, but this motivates students to give their best. Now, however, a new challenge awaits us and the goal will be to proudly represent our Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering and the Politecnico di Milano at EMEA level“.

“CFA Society Italy, in its many years of activity, has built an intense relationship with Italian universities to promote the principles of integrity and professional excellence among the younger generations“. Giuseppe Quarto di Palo, CFA, Director of CFA Society Italy and coordinator of the CFA Research Challenge in Italy, said: “We are happy to be able to offer universities and their talents the opportunity to compete in a realistic competition, aimed at reproducing the experience of an equity research department of asset management companies or investment houses. We also offer scholarships to the best students to access the CFA Program, in order to obtain a globally recognized certification in the financial industry“.

“This initiative makes it possible to achieve some important objectives in the field of education and academics. First, it is to bring students closer to the labor market by combining academic knowledge with the techniques and tools used by professionals in the financial sector. The second objective is to highlight our Italian university excellence at European and Global level“, commented Giancarlo Sandrin, CFA, President, CFA Society Italy. “This project could not exist without the valuable contribution of the association’s volunteers and the partners who supported the initiative like FactSet, Fidelity International, Kaplan Schweser, PwC Italia and Ferrari, the Maranello-based company being researched by students“.

“FactSet is extremely pleased to have supported CFA Research Challenge in Italy for the fifth year in a row by offering our analytical platform to students, professors and mentors“, mentioned Dorin Agache, Account Manager & Academic Sales at FactSet. “One of our main goals is to bridge the gap between the university and the labor market by enabling all participants to have access to the tools and market data needed to fully simulate the profession of financial analysts. Our warmest congratulations first go to Politecnico di Milano, which will continue the competition towards the EMEA title, but also to all the other universities that invest time and resources to improve the quality of teaching and believe in the development value of this extraordinary initiative organized by CFA Institute.”