The 2014 Hilti IT Innovation Competition:

Communication and Collaboration. Anytime. Anywhere.

Methods of communication and collaboration are constantly evolving. Ten years ago, team members would share documents via e-mail or internal mail. Now, team members easily work with shared documents in online collaboration rooms and virtual workplaces – collaboration can take place anytime, anywhere.

Who could have guessed in 2003 that 2013 would look so different? Maybe you, if someone had bothered to ask. Students are often the first movers in adopting new technologies to increase their productivity. The ubiquity of applications like Dropbox, Google Docs and Facebook are perfect illustrations.

That is why we want your thoughts on how you envision the future communication and collaboration between Hilti and our customers as well as within Hilti. Think about historical trends and recent market developments in order to imagine future communication and collaboration processes, software or hardware that will enable us to create more outstanding added value.

Help us with the following topics and answer questions like:

Communicating and Collaborating with the customers:

• How will future communication processes between Hilti and our customers look like?
• What is the role of social software (e.g., Facebook or Yammer) in the future working life of Hilti employees and customers?
• How can innovative technologies be used for collaboration (e.g., mobile or wearable technologies like mobile apps or Google Glass)?

Communicating and Collaborating within Hilti:

• How will future communication processes within different global Hilti functions look like?
• What is the role of online office suites (e.g., Office 365), cloud computing or social software (e.g., Yammer) in the Hilti internal communication and collaboration?

… and that‘s not all! We’re looking forward to seeing which additional questions you will identify and address through your submissions.

Hilti will award the most innovative ideas with great prizes.

The top 10 teams, designated as finalists, will be invited to a 2½-day workshop at Hilti headquarters in Liechtenstein (January 9-11, 2014). Here, teams can further develop their ideas and learn more about the Hilti business while networking with a group of highly creative individuals. All finalists are also invited to an awards ceremony where they will be recognized for their accomplishments by Hilti’s CIO and the competition’s international jury.

The prizes are:

1st place: Once-in-a-lifetime trip to one of our overseas locations (Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Tulsa, Okla. (USA) or Schaan (Liechtenstein))

2nd and 3rd place: Hilti power tool

All finalists: Easier access to internships and the opportunity to launch your collaboration idea.

Hear from the participants of the 2013 Hilti Mobile App Competition

“The competition was a great experience for me as it provided the opportunity to meet like-minded people and get to know Hilti as a forward-thinking and open-minded company. We not only got the chance to exchange and discuss our ideas with other participants and members of the Hilti Mobile Apps Team, but also to learn more about the manufacturing processes for many Hilti tools and the role of Hilti IT.”

Darius Fischer, winner of the 2013 Hilti Mobile App Competition

“My team placed third in the mobile apps competition, and we all got invited to join Hilti as interns. During my internship I got the opportunity to take my ideas from the competition and bring them to life. There were a lot of challenges, but with the help of all the experts at Hilti, we managed to overcome them and learn a lot in the process. In the meantime I had a great time with the Hilti Intern community – they really know how to have fun. The whole internship was an amazing experience and I would gladly do it all over again.”

Matej Kotnik, 3rd place winner of the 2013 Hilti Mobile App Competition and IT Application Developer at Hilti Global IT in Buchs, CH (since June 2013)

“I’ll never forget the good memories I made at the finalists’ weekend in Liechtenstein. I knew that Hilti was a global corporation, but I was really surprised to learn that 61 different nationalities are represented in the headquarters alone! The competition participants were also from all over the world: from the US, Canada and Europe to India and Hong Kong. Because of this mix, I had some great conversations with diverse people. I was also really impressed by Hilti’s approach to business innovation. It’s rare to see a company, not in the IT sector, that sponsors something like a mobile apps competition! I found the perfect place to apply my technical skills to real business needs.“

Kristjan Gomboc, 3rd place winner of the 2013 Hilti Mobile App Competition and IT Application Developer at Hilti Global IT in Buchs, CH (since July 2013)

Submission information

Participants are asked to submit their creative ideas by November 18, 2013. Detailed information about Hilti and collaboration, prizes, judgment criteria and idea submission can be found in the information package:

• The 2014 Hilti IT Innovation Competition: Information package
• Click here for all information on how to submit your idea as well as legal terms and conditions

Contact

If you have further questions about the 2014 Hilti IT Innovation Competition or need technical support, do not hesitate to contact us at IT-innovation@hilti.com.

If you are a Hilti employee and interested in taking part in the competition, send an e-mail to IT-innovation@hilti.com.