Incub@game: Play the management game!
In a few weeks, all MUSE students and staff will be able to test their knowledge in the field of business creation and learn some management basics thanks to Incubagame. A "serious game" conceived and designed by Montpellier Management Professors and their partners.
Natural and futuristic settings, high-resolution graphics, and a next-generation android named Xena as your coach... Welcome to the virtual world of Incub@game! A "serious game" created by Montpellier Management to introduce you to the basics of management and business creation in a fun way.
Educational and sustainable innovation
Popularized around ten years ago, serious games are educational resources that enable users to acquire knowledge through gaming experiences. Montpellier Managementresponded to the TAKE OFF#1 call for projects launched in 2018 by MUSE to support educational innovation in the various departments of the institution and its partner schools. "This is a real opportunity for Montpellier Management, and the field of entrepreneurship seemed to us to be the natural theme for approaching management in a cross-disciplinary way with an uninformed audience," explains Sophie Spring, teacher-researcher and leader of the Incubagame project.
The game is accessible to all students and staff within the MUSE network, whether or not they have a business project, and with no prerequisites in management. The only requirement for connecting to the platform is to have an institutional email address. To reach as wide an audience as possible, business creation is approached through the lens of sustainable development. "It's an essential requirement," explains Sophie Spring. "We are all sensitive to this issue today, and students even more so. It's also a way of reminding people that current management practices promote integration from the outset rather than correcting ecological and social damage after the fact."
A futuristic universe
As soon as they log into Incub@game, players are welcomed by Xena into a futuristic universe comprising three areas corresponding to the main themes of business creation: matching the entrepreneur's profile to the company's mission, market positioning, and the legal and financial levers to be implemented. "These themes were chosen based on the combined expertise and knowledge of Montpellier Management staff and our partners [see box]," explains Sophie Spring.
Within each space, different modules offer the opportunity to explore sub-topics such as strategic positioning, marketing analysis, business plans, and legal organization. Challenges such as building a rocket or completing a space race provide opportunities to test knowledge through question-and-answer games and establish fundamental management concepts. At the end of each sequence, Xena conducts a debriefing, and at the end of the game, a dashboard allows players to visualize their strengths and areas for improvement.
A real educational bonus for beginners, even if, as Sophie Spring points out, "this isn't training in business creation; you don't come out of the game with skills. It's more of a discovery or introductory module to management that may inspire some people to take things further."
The Montpellier Management Strategy
This is a logical step forward for Montpellier Management, whose pioneering position in educational innovation has already proven its worth. "We launched e-learning courses ten years ago and we also support the hybridization of teaching methods, combining distance and face-to-face learning. In a crisis situation such as the one we are currently experiencing, we can see that these teaching methods can prove to be essential," says Marie-Christine Lichtlé, Director of Montpellier Management.
Entrepreneurship has long been one of the department's areas of expertise. "Along with auditing, finance, management strategy, and marketing, it is one of the cornerstones of our training program and of the research carried out in our laboratories, which is rooted in a long history of work on entrepreneurship," explains the director. This approach heralds another major development at Montpellier Management: the upcoming launch of I-Lab, the very first student incubator supported by the University of Montpellier.
- If you would like to access the game, you can contact the team.
Partners
The design of this game is the result of a genuine collaboration between Professors various disciplines taught at Montpellier Management and a group of private and institutional partners "who contributed their vision to this project," emphasizes Sophie Spring, who coordinated this collective effort. The following organizations participated in Incubagame: Banque Populaire du Sud, Montpellier Business and Innovation Center (BIC),URSSAF Languedoc Roussillon, Regional Council of the Order of Chartered Accountants, Labex Entreprendre, and the Center for Research in Environmental and Social Accounting (CSEAR).