Who will win the WTT Young Leader Award 2016?

The jury has decided: The six nominated practical project teams for the WTT Young Leader Award have been determined. However, who will take first, second and third place in the two categories of market research and management conception - this secret will not be revealed until Monday, September 26, in front of over 500 guests in the Tonhalle St.Gallen. "The jury was unanimous regarding the two winning teams," says Sibylle Minder Hochreutener, Prorector of the University of Applied Sciences St.Gallen (FHS). In the management concept category, there was a clear favorite. Long-time jury member and Bauwerk boss Klaus Brammertz comments: "Even viewed over the years, this work can be classified as an extraordinarily outstanding achievement." One can be curious.

Professional level

"It is a great pleasure to examine the often refreshing, down-to-earth, and pragmatic solutions of the students," says a pleased Christof Oswald, head of Bühler Human Resources. Thomas Harring from the top management of Leica Geosystems is of a similar opinion: "Some of the work has the level of well-paid consulting firms." FHS Principal Sebastian Wörwag is pleased with how amazingly deeply the teams have delved into very specific industry topics. "With such achievements, the students always manage to give very valuable initial impulses to the economy of eastern Switzerland," knows Bruno Räss, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Convincing market research

The following teams were nominated in the market research category: Nicole Bischof (Wittenbach), Philipp Gemperle (Waldkirch), Lorena Lütscher (Domat/Ems), Ramona Sigron (Chur), Marco Solenthaler (Heiden) prepared a market potential and competitor analysis for the company De Martin AG in Wängi. Marco Otti (St.Gallen), Manuel Bayer (Degersheim), Ramon Beerli (St.Gallen), Matthias Nideröst (St.Gallen) and Raffaele Vignacastrisi (Abtwil) caught the jury's eye with their customer benefit analysis for Oertli Instrumente AG from Berneck. Students Selina Steiger (St.Gallen), Rafael Manetsch (Siat), Christian Schiegg (Appenzell) and their American colleagues Yana Bliznakova, Aryan Jain and Jaa Le from Babson College in Boston can also hope for the coveted trophy thanks to their market entry analysis for the Swiss company SFS intec Inc. in Wyoming (USA).

Promising concepts

Which teams are nominated in the Management Concept category? Johannes Grob (Herisau), Nicolas Gorlero (Uerikon), Luca Pieli (Stein), Fabian Ritter (Gais) and Philipp Sutter (Sonnental) have professionalized the basis for financial management for the Flawil company Büchler Reinli und Spitzli AG. Daniel Bänziger (Trogen), Roman Büchler (Hauptwil), Timo Koller (Herisau), Lino Schindler (Heiden) and Simon Stoffel (Sitterdorf) are in the running with a sales concept for Leica Geosystems in Heerbrugg. The jury was also convinced by the key figures cockpit for Plaston AG in Widnau by the students Ramon Hilber (Gossau), Nico Heiniger (St.Gallen), Lia Canal (Buchs), Leoni Bleisch (St.Gallen).

This year's award speech "A unique entrepreneur and life design" will be given by the internationally active architect and entrepreneur Klauspeter Nüesch from Eastern Switzerland.

More information: www.fhsg.ch/praxisprojekte