With mental health and workplace wellness taking centre stage, the 2025 Systems Innovation Challenge – led by Ivey’s Innovation North and BMO Academy – served as a platform for transformative ideas and solutions. The initiative brought together Canada’s brightest young minds to tackle this pressing issue while also developing essential critical thinking and problem-solving skills for the future.
“One of the important lessons is that we can achieve more when we collaborate, not just compete,” said Mazi Raz, MBA ’05, PhD ’14, an assistant professor of strategy at Ivey. “This (the Challenge) is not just about innovation in solutions; it’s also about innovation in learning – how do we help students, future leaders, tackle complex problems?”
Raz, along with Tima Bansal, a professor of general management, sustainability, and strategy, and Valen Boyd, an Ivey PhD candidate, led this year’s Challenge. Building on the success of last year’s inaugural event, which saw university students across Ontario tackle a challenge with Walmart Canada, this year’s competition expanded to include post-secondary students from across Canada. In total, 66 student teams – spanning various disciplines and academic levels from undergraduate to PhD – were selected through a prescreening challenge at the application stage.
Learning to tackle complex problems
In the first stage of the Challenge, students participated in five virtual workshops where they learned to approach complex, systems-level problems. Twelve finalist teams advanced to the second stage, where they explored a related challenge: the growing loneliness epidemic. They had the opportunity to present their ideas in a gallery-style format at a Showcase event in Toronto on January 18, collaborating with other teams to refine their solutions.
Each team was paired with mentors – including Ivey MSc alumni, PhD candidates, and faculty – who helped them to further refine their proposals for the final challenge: enhancing employee well-being in a corporate setting.
The initiative culminated in final presentations at BMO Academy’s headquarters on February 14, where teams competed in four distinct award categories:
• Most Feasible Solution ($4,000) – Won by an Ivey HBA team for developing a pragmatic, actionable roadmap that builds on BMO's existing strengths (Mason Lyn, Michael Chen, Christian Tivig, Helen Liu, and Ryanna Luo);
• Most Creative Solution ($4,000) – Won by a University of Toronto team for an innovative approach to mental wellness (Mallory Furlong, Anne-Laurie Mayengo, Kaitlin MacDonald, Shuchita Das, and Siobhan Mehrotra);
• Most Scalable Solution ($4,000) – Also won by the University of Toronto team, whose solution was designed to be adapted across industries; and,
• Systems Ecosystem Catalyst Award ($8,000) – Won by a McMaster University team for forging connections and creating an ecology of solutions that amplify collective impact (Htet Yee Mon Win (Olive), Aarthi Thommandram, and Sierra Jean Haziza).
Tackling complexity: Learning beyond the classroom
Overall, Raz said he was proud of how the teams moved beyond traditional managerial approaches to problems – focused on identifying a single root cause and addressing it with a straightforward solution – to recognizing the interconnectedness of factors and embracing collaboration.
“It’s about enriching the way we think, it’s not just about picking up new tools. It’s about slowing down our thinking and being mindful of being deliberate,” he said. “I wanted the students to realize that complex problems don’t easily lend themselves to simplistic solutions and that there is a method for tackling complex problems. The common mindset is to say, ‘It’s too complex, I’ll stay away from it.’ We’re not hopeless. We can do this, but we need to do things differently.”
This sentiment was echoed by Liz Miller, a postdoctoral associate at Ivey and mentor for the initiative.
“Seeing all of the students' incredible work gave me renewed hope for the future,” she said.
Adedayo Adeyanju, a University of British Columbia graduate student who participated in the Challenge, shared how she gained valuable insights into navigating multi-stakeholder environments and applying frameworks to complex problems.
“I’m excited to carry these lessons forward and continue exploring systems-level solutions for other real-world challenges,” she said.
Thank you to the mentors
Michelina Aguanno, HBA ’20 and Ivey PhD candidate; Ramsey Andary, MBA ’23; Harrison Antecol, MSc ’24; Sylvia Grewatsch, Associate Professor in Strategy at Goodman School of Business and former Ivey postdoctoral associate; Sheikh Muhammad Hasaan, MSc ’24; Dalton King, MSc ’23; Ju Young Lee, Ivey postdoctoral scholar and lecturer; Lara Liboni, Ivey Associate Professor, Strategy & Sustainability; Elizabeth Miller, Ivey postdoctoral associate; Abdul-Aziz Sardar, MSc ’22; Rasha Silin, MSc ’24
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