Sponsored Projects

Las Vegas Sands resorts offer an array of high-end amenities — including entertainment, cuisine, and guest service — integrated under one roof in Singapore, Macao, Vegas, and Bethlehem, PA.

Project: With more than 40,000 employees worldwide, a big challenge for the company was educating its workforce about sustainability in ways that not only maintained operational consistency across properties, but also identified competitive innovations for the business as a whole. Gamification — or the use of game-play mechanics to make non-game activities more fun and engaging — was emerging as an effective way to educate and elicit behavioral changes across a range of activities, from project management to customer engagement. The SGE Immersion team evaluated the state of the field and recommended several approaches to engage, educate, and change behavior of employees in order to improve the firm’s operational and strategic opportunities.

Iosil Energy Corporation has developed technology to purify silicon into high purity virgin polysilicon feedstock for the solar industry.

Project: Iosil had technology that could reduce silicon waste in the solar manufacturing chain. The technology was unique because it recycled traditional waste product into the high purity virgin polysilicon feedstock for the manufacture of solar cells. The SGE Immersion team evaluated the commercial opportunities for Iosil’s innovative recovery technology.

Hilton Worldwide is a leading global hospitality company, spanning the lodging sector from luxurious full-service hotels and resorts to extended-stay suites and mid-priced hotels, including Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, DoubleTree by Hilton, Embassy Suites Hotels, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Hotels, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Home2 Suites by Hilton, and Hilton Grand Vacations.

Project: Over the prior five years, sustainability and corporate responsibility had become hot topics in the hospitality industry. Yet, companies continued to struggle to develop strategies that moved beyond cost-savings measures which had limited impact on revenue or the overall guest experience. The SGE Immersion team developed and evaluated new approaches to integrate sustainability and corporate responsibility holistically into the guest experience in a way that guests would clearly value in order to create differentiation through sustainability and corporate responsibility-related product offerings based on micro targeting and customer intelligence research insights.

Corning Incorporated is the world leader in specialty glass and ceramics. Drawing on more than 160 years of materials science and process engineering knowledge, Corning creates and makes keystone components that enable high-technology systems for consumer electronics, mobile emissions control, telecommunications and life sciences. Corning is focused on developing the next wave of cutting-edge technologies, across five business segments: Display Technologies – glass substrates for LCD flat panel televisions, computer monitors, laptops, and other consumer electronics; Environmental Technologies – ceramic substrates and diesel filters for emission control systems; Telecommunications – optical fiber, cable, and hardware and equipment for telephone and Internet communication networks; Life Sciences – glass and plastic labware, as well as label-free technology, media, and reagents for cell culture, genomics, and bioprocessing applications; and Specialty Materials – cover glass for consumer electronics, advanced optics, and specialty glass solutions for a number of industries.

Project: One of Corning’s top products is Gorilla Glass. Formed through Corning’s proprietary fusion draw process, Gorilla Glass’s smooth and sleek surface had become the cover glass of choice for device manufacturers around the globe, and was found in most of the world’s touch electronics. Over the prior six years, it had been featured in more than 30 major brands and 975 product models spanning more than 1 billion devices worldwide. Gorilla Glass has properties which may make it environmentally preferable to traditional soda lime glass in adjacent markets other than consumer electronics. The SGE Immersion team identified, analyzed, and quantified one of a number of new market opportunities for Corning Gorilla Glass, paying particular attention to the energy-related benefits Gorilla Glass could offer the new segment to drive revenue growth.

Widetronix is a start-up focused on bringing to market an innovative class of ultra-low power sensors operated by betavoltaic batteries. Betavoltaics are an innovative class of battery that provide continuous current and voltage over a flexible operational lifetime — days to decades. These solid-state batteries harness the energy of decaying radioactive material embedded on a proprietary semiconductor chip. Power generated from these devices is unaffected by environmental factors. The company was developing a prototype medical implant battery and sought to sell betavoltaics as a part of a multi-functional autonomous wireless sensor platform that includes a microprocessor, energy harvesting devices, and thin film batteries/ultra-capacitors.

Project: The SGE Immersion team evaluated the potential of the company’s battery and sensor technology for building, utility, and industrial applications. The team conducted market analysis and developed recommendations for a go-to-market strategy for the company’s technology.

Established in 1944, The World Bank is made up of two development institutions owned by 186 member countries: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). The IBRD aims to reduce poverty in middle-income and creditworthy poorer countries, while IDA focuses on the world’s poorest countries. The Bank’s work is complemented by that of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Together, these institutions provide low-interest loans, interest-free credits, and grants to developing countries for a wide array of purposes that include: investments in education, health, public administration, infrastructure, financial and private sector development, agriculture, and environmental and natural resource management.

Project: The World Bank was working with municipalities to make informed choices on waste processing technologies based on economic, technical, social, and environmental considerations. This investment guidance focused mostly on conventional technologies. Emerging technologies, however, were increasingly considered by the client municipalities interested in recycling, collection, treatment, and disposal of solid waste. There was an opportunity to foster the identification and application of emerging technologies that would function in the context of the World Bank client municipalities and cities, as well as a risk of investing in technologies that were not appropriate in a given situation. To improve the World Bank’s ability to provide advice to the municipalities on emerging technologies and to foster innovation of appropriate technologies for the Bank’s clients in the Latin America and Caribbean Region, the SGE Immersion team analyzed emerging technologies and developed practical criteria for evaluating and prioritizing them for investment and deployment.

Novo Nordisk is a global healthcare company focused on diabetes care. The company has leading positions within hemophilia care, growth hormone therapy, and hormone replacement therapy. Headquartered in Denmark, Novo Nordisk employs approximately 32,500 employees in 74 countries, and markets its products in 179 countries.

Project: Novo Nordisk was attempting to bring diabetes care to the working poor who had little access to healthcare. The company was testing — in isolation in different countries (Nigeria, Kenya and India) — different components of business models in different environments (slum, urban, rural, and semi-rural). Novo Nordisk was exploring the new models, addressing challenges such as access to care, price mark-ups, lack of trained physicians, and awareness and availability of insulin. The SGE Immersion team focused on the Nigeria pilot where the company was experimenting with one-stop-shop diabetes care clinics in public hospitals. The team analyzed and offered recommendations for scaling the program in light of sustainability and risk diagnosis concerns.

The Newsweek/Daily Beast Company was an American media company, and owner of Newsweek and The Daily Beast, that ceased operations in 2013. The Women in the World Foundation was born out of Newsweek & The Daily Beast’s Women in the World summit, launched in 2010. The Foundation serves as a resource to all who seek to learn about and engage on the issues facing women and girls. The Foundation will, in addition, convene courageous women of impact, provide strategic grants to select non-profit organizations, and foster much-needed collaboration between organizations.

Project: Multi-sector collaborative effort to develop Shea butter industry to create economic opportunity for women in northwest Ghana

Long Caye Belize (LCB) is a family owned eco-development company located in an atoll off the coast of Belize.

Project: The SGE Immersion team created and developed a foundational, comprehensive strategic business plan for LCB to help clarify the company’s growth strategy and prioritize its investments beyond its core approach of land sales.

Global Power Enterprises, LLC (GPE) was a start-up renewable energy company.

Project: Although GPE held the patent to a promising technology, additional work needed to be done to clarify the company’s business model, value proposition, and growth potential. The SGE Immersion team assessed the market and commercialization opportunities for the technology. The team examined the industry to understand how GPE’s technology might prove valuable in the market.