NYC: Innovative and Entrepreneurial Solutions to the City's Complex Challenges

In partnership with the mayor’s office this project driven course will allow closely mentored student teams to tackle top problems facing New York City today.  Professor Clifford Schorer will be facilitating the course along with John Gamberoni of Accenture. "This is an innovative course with potentially great impact to the City", said Schorer. "We are looking forward to watching the students critical thinking progress from idea stage to solid proposals for the City of New York".

Stay tune for additional coverage as the students move forward throughout the semester.

Projects will allow students to work closely with members of the mayor’s office such as:
• Deputy Mayor Robert Steel’s office for Economic Development and Rebuilding
• Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott’s office for Education and Community Development
• Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith’s office for Operations
• Commissioner Katherine Oliver’s office for Media and Entertainment

Wall Street Journal coverage: Landing and Waiting
Learn more about the Assigned City Projects
Watch this year's City Project Presentations
Watson Library Research Course Guide
Download the Syllabus
About the Professors: Clifford Schorer, John Gamberoni

Meet our class mentors:

Sudhir Ahuja, Alcatel-Lucent Ventura
Nikisha Alcindor, Goldman Sachs
John Gamberoni, Accenture
Aditya Ghuwalewala, Maven Magnet
Michelle Greenwald, Columbia Business School
Ned Lamont, Lamont Digital Systems
Ross Martin, MTV
Asha Saxena, Future Technologies

The overall objective of the course is to leverage the combined talents of the MBA candidates, Business School faculty, City Administration and industry experts. The course will provide an experience for Columbia’s MBA candidates to work with the City to enhance the efficiency of the City’s diverse operations. Efforts will be made to identify and implement enhanced managerial techniques, deploy technologies that will generate significant cost savings, and enhance the life experience of the city’s population.

Selected corporations will be offered the opportunity to actively participate as partners in the program.  A triangle linking corporations with both Columbia and the City will provide a unique opportunity to heighten awareness of the programs and talent resident at Columbia Business School. The skills and knowledge acquired by the students will be those of addressing large scale problems in a complex environment, and this combination of knowledge and skill will prove useful regardless of the career path they choose.