Valeo Innovation Challenge: Imperial College London technology students shortlisted for international €100,000 prize

Thu, Jul 23, 2015 16:52 CET

Paris, June 23, 2015 –Valeo has announced the names of the 20 international student teams shortlisted for its renowned 2015 Valeo Innovation Challenge.

The UK students from Imperial College London now have until July 17thto create a working prototype of the automotive innovation project: to design a product or system which will create smarter more intuitive cars by 2030.

The student designs will then face an 11-strong international judging panel chaired by Valeo CEO Jacques Aschenbroich, to decide the winner of the cash prize.

The Valeo Innovation Challenge, now in its second year, is a global contest open to engineering students around the world, and along with the winners’ cash prize, second and third-place teams will receive €10,000 each.

Valeo has given the 20 shortlisted teams a development fund of €5,000 to each team, to help build their prototypes, each of which are a closely guarded secret until judging takes place.

Along with the UK team, students from all over the world have been shortlisted, representing a total of 12 countries on four continents: China, Egypt, Germany, India, Malaysia, Poland, Russia, Spain, Turkey, the United States and Uzbekistan.

The six finalist teams will then be selected and invited to present their projects to the jury in Paris on Tuesday, September 1, 2015. The top three teams will be announced on Tuesday, September 29, 2015.

The Valeo Innovation Challenge was set up to champion innovation, and support investment in future automotive technologies. Valeo invests more than 11% of original equipment sales annually to such investment, all focused around finding solutions to help lower carbon emissions and promote intuitive driving. The Innovation Challenge is part of its long term commitment to encourage engineers of the future to do the same.

Last year, in the first time the competition was held, Brazilian students from Team Sadec, from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais won the 1st prize for a project designed to reinvent the mechanical transmission system by coupling the pump and hydraulic motor, in a bid to improve fuel efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions.

This year’s jury is made up of eminent figures from the world of science, as well as experts from Valeo:

Jacques ASCHENBROICH: Chief Executive Officer of Valeo.
Bruno BONNELL: an entrepreneur who specializes in the digital and robotics industries. He has created companies in the sector: Infogrames/Atari, Infonie, Game One, Ivolution, Robopolis, Awabot, etc. He holds the posts of Robotics Project Leader at the French Ministry of Economic, Financial and Digital Affairs and “Communicating Better” Ambassador at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development. He is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of the EMLYON Business School.
André CHIENG: Chairman of Asiatique Européenne de Commerce and Vice Chairman of the France-China Committee. Foreign trade advisor for France in China.
Yotam COHEN: Co-founder of Wibbitz, a start-up that developed an application that automatically turns any article, post or feed into a video summary, and head of the Wibbitz R&D department.
Guillaume DEVAUCHELLE: Vice President of Innovation and Scientific Development at Valeo.
Prof. Dr.-Ing Welf-Guntram DROSSEL: Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology, Dresden, Germany, with expertise in adaptronics and acoustics.
Gérard FELDZER: Chairman of the Ile de France Regional Tourism Committee, Member of the Transport and Mobility Commission, consultant and columnist, former airline pilot with Air France and former President of the French Air and Space Museum.
Claudie HAIGNERÉ: President of Universcience from 2010 to 2015, then head of European and space research at the European Space Agency. First French woman to visit the International Space Station, former Minister Delegate for Research and New Technologies and former Minister Delegate for European Affairs.
Hans-Peter KUNZE, former Senior Executive Vice-President, Sales & Business Development at Valeo. He is member of the Advisory Board of the Schnellecke Logistics Group and of the UTAC CERAM Strategy Board.
Christophe PERILLAT: Chief Operating Officer at Valeo.
Jacques ROUGERIE: Visionary French architect and oceanographer with expertise in underwater habitats.Ranking among the leading patent filers in France, Valeo has close to 11,000 researchers working in 50 research and development centers around the world. Valeo has developed a wide array of innovative products and technologies, which in 2014 represented 35% of its order book.

Valeo was also awarded the Top Employers label in 22 countries for 2015.

ENDS

Valeo is an automotive supplier, partner to all automakers worldwide. As a technology company, Valeo proposes innovative products and systems that contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions and to the development of intuitive driving.

In 2014, the Group generated sales of €12.7 billion and invested over 10% of its original equipment sales in research and development. Valeo has 133 production sites, 16 research centers, 34 development centers and 15 distribution platforms, and employs 81,200 people in 29 countries worldwide. Valeo is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange and is a member of the CAC 40 index.

For more information, please contact:

Media Relations

Phone: +33 1 40 55 21 75/37 18

For more information about the Valeo Group and its activities, please visit www.valeo.com