We are pleased to share the winners and runners-up of the 2026 Digital Strategy & Transformation Awards, led by Associate Professor Dr Rikke Duus. The awards form part of the second-year MSIN0051 Digital Strategy & Transformation module, taught to students on the BSc Information Management for Business (IMB) programme and offered as an elective to students from across UCL faculties. This year’s event saw nearly 200 students participate, working in 41 Digital Sprint Consultancy teams.

During the first five weeks of the term, these teams developed creative digital solutions for a range of business clients, making extensive use of digital and AI tools to support their research, ideation, evaluation, and final presentations. In an increasingly digitally connected world, providing students with practical experience of digital and AI tools is a vital aspect of contemporary education and collaborative work.

This project is designed to equip students with essential digital capabilities and a strong understanding of digital business, innovation, and consumer practices, helping to prepare them for their future professional careers.

The 5-week Sprint Project is structured into three distinct phases:

• Phase 1: Research and Insights Gathering 
• Phase 2: Ideation and Idea Evaluation 
• Phase 3: Digital Solution Presentation

Teams developed interactive websites to present their work, featuring their research insights, analytical frameworks, multimedia elements, app prototypes, data visualisations, and video-based pitch presentations. This format helps bring their projects to life and enables the work to be easily shared with current and prospective employers, as well as other relevant audiences.

During the 5 weeks of the Sprint Project, teams applied business-focused analytical frameworks to assess their selected organisation’s innovation ambitions, competitive environment, consumer trends, and emerging opportunities to strengthen digital competitiveness and value creation for customers and stakeholders. Alongside interactive lectures, teams were supported in workshop seminars by Teaching Assistants Brian Andrews and Emma Tournan.

This year, teams developed digital and AI transformation solutions for a wide range of organisations, including The British Museum, The National Theatre, NHS, Waterstones, IKEA, LMVH, Nation Wide and many more. The Digital Strategy & Transformation Award is presented in the Best Digital Transformation Solution and the Most Creative and High-impact Platform categories.

The projects selected as Winners and Runners-up demonstrate a strong ability to translate data and insights into meaningful outcomes, align closely with organisational strategic objectives, and identify credible opportunities for new digital and AI transformation initiatives. These teams also showed a high level of competence in applying a wide range of digital and AI tools across all stages of their work, from research and ideation through to evaluation and final presentation.

Many congratulations to all the Winning and Runners-Up Teams!

best digital transformation solution (elective students)

Winning Team: Best Digital Transformation Solution

Britt Meesters, Maliha Rahman, Yuqiong Chen, Natalie Song & Eleonore Blanchet

Organisation: The British Museum

Runner-Up: Best Digital Transformation Solution

Sammy Clayton-Bennett, Mustafa Boydak, Rohan Woghiren, Sheralyn Tan & Karam Chhabra

Organisation: First Group

most creative and high-impact platform (elective students)

Winning Team: Most Creative and High-Impact Platform

Yana Gandh, Anjali Karri, Christopher Ofokansi, Keerthana Perinparaj & Molly Shah

Organisation: Thorpe Park

Runner-Up: Most Creative and High-Impact Platform

Isabelle Shi, Deena Sun, Cheryl Wang, Xuan Zhang & Johnson Chek

Organisation: London Stadium

best digital transformation solution (imb students)

Winning Team: Best Digital Transformation Solution

Charlotte Renard, Sinel Gunarathne Gunarathne, Zeynep Kurdoglu, Noah Mimoun & Kaden Ross

Organisation: The Natural History Museum

Runner-Up: Best Digital Transformation Solution

Antonio De Mori, Leonard Lui, Pietro Maffei, Freddie Soanes & Dheer Darshakkumar Sheth

Organisation: UK Prisons

most creative & high-impact platform (imb students)

Winning Team: Most Creative and High-Impact Platform

Karolina Doan, Adya Gupta, Emmy Nguyen, Maria Victoria Vieira Cardena & Grace Wong

Organisation: The National Theatre

Runner-Up: Most Creative and High-Impact Platform

Fran Onrubia Heredia, Miranda Reina, Daniel Lindley, Dila Yildiz & Tom Fullard

Organisation: The British Library

Key Digital and AI Skills Learned

As part of this project, students have acquired a range of essential digital and AI skills, including:

• Data Analysis and Visualisation: Students learned how to gather, analyse and visualise data to generate actionable insights.
• AI Tool Utilisation: Teams gained experience in using various AI tools for insights gathering, ideation, and video creation.
• Digital Prototyping: Students developed prototypes for digital solutions, including apps and interactive websites.
• Multimedia Content Creation: Teams created engaging multimedia content, including videos and interactive presentations, to effectively communicate their ideas.
• Strategic Thinking: Students applied strategic frameworks to assess business opportunities, competitive landscapes and consumer trends.
• Collaboration and Teamwork: Working in consultancy teams, students honed their collaboration and teamwork skills, essential for their future careers.

In today’s fast-changing business environment, strong digital and AI capabilities are essential for organisations seeking to remain competitive and drive innovation. For students, developing these skills not only equips them for the realities of contemporary workplaces but also increases their appeal to prospective employers.

Organisations are placing growing value on graduates who can confidently use digital tools, think strategically, and work effectively in teams. Through participation in this Sprint Project, students gain hands-on experience and demonstrate their ability to contribute to digital transformation efforts, helping them stand out in an increasingly competitive job market.