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Raiffeisen Bank International | Sustainability Report 2017
GRI content index / Assurance statement Engaged citizen Fair partner Responsible banker Sustainability management Overview Foreword
Further educational initiatives
Raiffeisen has been supporting and promoting creativity among children and
teenagers for 47 years with its International Raiffeisen Youth Competition. In 2017,
the competition organized by the “Zentrale Raiffeisenwerbung” (the Central Raiffeisen
Advertising), of which RBI AG is a member, took place under the motto “Friendship
is colorful!”. The competition calls on children and young people to deal creatively
and critically with the topic of friendship: What does friendship actually mean?
Where does it start and what does it matter? The concrete task for students of the
first to fourth grade was, for example, to use a brush or pencil to commit the
experience shared with friends to paper. Middle school students were able
to creatively express themselves on the topic “Together we are strong.” “Friendship
without borders” was the theme of the creative competition for vocational and high
school students. The topic was the connection between friends and borders, which
can be overcome together. Two of the lucky winners come from Austria: Alma
© Raiffeisen, Christopher Neiber
Moser, 14 (whose picture can be seen), and Amanda Stummvoll, 17.
Participating countries included Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Italy and Finland. Altogether
there were 730,000 submissions with more than 68,000 students participating in the painting and drawing
competition in Austria alone. At the end of the competition, the jury evaluations were held at the local and state
level. The work by the winning contestants went on to be rated by an international jury in Helsinki, Finland.
The Innovation Academy is a project of the Croatian
Office of Creativity and Innovation (HUKI) in
collaboration with Algebra University College, the
Zagreb Technology Park and Raiffeisenbank Austria
d.d. The Innovation Academy is a summer school that
offers two innovative programs – the “Future Skills”
program and the “Future Entrepreneurs” program,
each lasting one week.
The “Future Skills” program was held in English.
Participants became acquainted with to important skills
for the future and, heard about new technologies and
innovations, learned digital marketing communications
© Innovation Academy
and practiced digital skills, emotional intelligence and communication, entrepreneurship and project management.
The second part of the program was directed toward students who were interested in an entrepreneurial career.
Over the course of the program, they learned how to create a business plan as well as how to develop entrepreneurial
ideas, draft marketing strategies, initiate financing models and perfect their presentation skills. Here are a few
examples of the product ideas produced in this program: smart traffic lights that help reduce traffic jams; a smart
refrigerator that detects when it is running low and monitors the quality of foods consumed; a device for detection
of the alcohol level in the blood of the driver once he sits behind the wheel and automatically prevents ignition, if
necessary; and a new social platform for amateur photographers.
This remarkable program, which promotes very promising young talent, was financially supported by Raiffeisenbank
Austria d.d. with € 3,970 and through participation in the regular meetings as guest speakers on various topics.