Context
As part of the Systems Engineering degree at ISEP, our team participated in a challenge requiring students to create an innovative business concept, validate its viability, and develop a working solution using technologies provided by partner companies. The objective was not only to build software, but to design a complete product and business model. Our team partnered with Efacec, Do It Lean, and OutSystems and won the competition.
The Challenge
- Creating a viable business model
- Validating customer interest
- Designing a scalable service concept
- Building a working digital solution
- Connecting the digital experience with real-world operations
The challenge was not simply building an application. It was proving that a gamified experience could create meaningful value beyond entertainment.
My Role
- Product ideation and concept validation
- Market research and business analysis
- Business model definition
- Product design and requirements
- Project management activities
- Development of the low-code application
- Presentation and stakeholder engagement
Product Approach
We designed a platform where users could lease a virtual plot inside a greenhouse or garden and manage it through a gamified mobile experience. Users could choose crops, monitor production in real time, control how food was cultivated, and receive harvested products at home. The product combined the engagement of a farming game with transparency and convenience in food production.
Outcome
The project demonstrated how gamification could be applied to a real-world business model. We delivered a functional OutSystems application, a complete business and operational concept, a physical proof-of-concept model, and validated the idea with industry partners. The project won the LSIS II Innovation Challenge.
Measures of Success
- Winner of the LSIS II competition
- Successful collaboration with three industry partners
- Functional low-code prototype delivered
- End-to-end business model validated
- Positive academic and industry evaluation
The Transformation
The project transformed a simple gaming concept into a tangible service connecting digital engagement with food production and delivery. It combined technology, business modelling and user experience design in one proposition.
What I Learned
Great products emerge when technology, business viability, and user needs are considered together. The experience taught me how to validate ideas, collaborate with stakeholders, and translate a concept into a product people could understand and use. It was my first full journey from idea to prototype and helped shape my interest in product management.