​The innovatively named Team Delorean, led by AGSM Full-time MBA student Pablo Quintero, has won first place at the 2015 UNSW​ Ideathon; the think tank competition that encourages current students from all parts of the university to bring their big ideas to life.​​

The multi-disciplinary team of UNSW students were crowned winners after five high calibre judges selected their life saving idea of emergensyst as the most impressive entry. emergensyst is a system that connects local medics with government emergency systems providing a faster response in emergency situations. For a more detailed explanation of the idea, watch Pablo's winning pitch.

Held over two and a half days in the new Michael Crouch Innovation Centre on Kensington Campus, Ideathon required teams to create innovative solutions to real world problems using the latest technologies supplied by Ideathon partner Cisco. Some ideas were as varied as transport initiatives, social network systems and an app to aid corporate fit-outs.

UNSW Vice Chancellor, Professor Ian Jacobs, highlights that UNSW is a hotbed of creativity and new ways of thinking. “We want to connect students with industry, government and NGO’s to improve their experience, employability and capacity to become the innovators and research partners of the future,” said Professor Jacobs

UNSW Ideathon also gave participants access to mentors with specialist knowledge and industry experience who support them through the innovation and entrepreneurial processes from the initial idea right through to getting the idea ready to pitch for commercial application.

Guest speakers such as Kevin Bloch, CTO of Cisco Australia, and Sam Costello, Associate Director of UNSW Strategy and Business Systems, were also on hand to help provide inspiration and stimulate ideas.

The winning team won tickets, flights and accommodation to CISCO Live 2016 in Melbourne – an annual educational and training event, attracting more than 3,000 IT and communications professionals.

Pablo said: “Ideathon was a very intense and gratifying experience. Having an opportunity to work under pressure was exciting and really pushed us to the limit. I was fortunate enough to be paired with a great team that fostered a culture of respect and inclusion, which was critical to our success. Ideathon has been definitely one of the most rewarding experiences in my MBA journey so far.”

Space.Coach and Spot It, teams who narrowly missed the victory came 2nd and 3rd consecutively winning fitbits and GoPros.

To see all of the pitches which were submitted for the UNSW Ideathon, you can view them at the YouTube channel located here.