Media Strom
Designing A New Digital Customer Experience
for The Mattress Leader
Revolutionizing University-Business Collaboration: AUEB’s ‘Taftisis’ initiative
transforms academic engagement, fostering unprecedented connections
with the business world and empowering students with real-market insights.
The Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB), a beacon of academic excellence and innovation, embarked on a strategic journey to redefine its engagement with the business sector. Aiming to dispel the perception of Greek universities’ insularity from private sector collaborations, AUEB sought to create a communication tool that not only aligned education with business realities but also attracted funding for scholarships and sponsorships for events.
This initiative was crucial for enhancing University’s awareness in the business world, despite major challenges for a public sector institution such as a lack of prior initiatives, difficulty in material collection, and the need for collaboration across different university departments.
AUEB faced the challenge of overcoming the entrenched perception that Greek universities are detached from the private sector. Without existing materials or prior experience in such initiatives, the university needed to innovate from scratch, requiring the collection of diverse materials and the alignment of various departments.
The task was daunting: to introduce a fresh, innovative look and approach that was unfamiliar to the staff, all while balancing the university’s esteemed image with a new, dynamic presentation style.
In response, we shifted focus from merely creating a presentation to developing a comprehensive new service named “Taftisis.” Utilizing popular video technology and software platforms, we embraced data and process visualization, pictograms, and timeline design to articulate AUEB’s strategy.
This approach, grounded in service design and a human-centric communication language, transformed how AUEB presents its alignment with business organizations, signaling a new era of openness and collaboration between academia and the business sector.
“Taftisis” evolved into a pivotal platform for AUEB, revolutionizing its strategy to demonstrate openness to the business community. The initiative not only became the university’s primary tool for engaging with organizations but also surprised and engaged business owners and executives.
Alumni, now working in influential companies, shared the presentation widely, becoming proud ambassadors of AUEB’s new direction. This marked a significant shift, positioning AUEB as a leader in fostering real-world business and academic collaborations.