A four-member team of students from the Weatherhead School of Management recently took third place—and a $2,000 prize—in the first Goodyear Innovation Challenge for their presentation during the two-day hackathon at Case Western Reserve’s Larry Sears and Sally Zlotnick Sears think[box].
Taozhang Wang, Desai Wang, Zedi Li and Runhaun Cao presented their business concept aimed at using technology to improve customer service, including an app to solve inconveniences customers encounter when replacing tires. Part of their plan involves a truck that travels to customers to provide on-location wheel alignments.
“The service enables the user to order new tires online with an app, and our staff could pick up the tires,” Taozhang Wang said. “The ultimate goal is to smooth the tire-replacement service for our customers. They don’t have to search for tire stores, drive, and wait to get service done.”
Other teams in the challenge represented the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and the University of Rochester’s Simon School of Business, as well as a second team from the Weatherhead School.