The Valeo Innovation Challenge 2015

Apply for the Valeo Innovation Challenge for students worldwide 2015 – A chance to Win €100,000!

Valeo invites students worldwide to participate in its 2015 automobile Innovation Challenge.Students are challenged to come up with automotive solutions that will make cars smarter and more intuitive by 2030. The students will be asked to develop bold,revolutionary solutions for the communities of tomorrow.

The purpose of the contest is to recognize an innovative automotive equipment project chosen from submissions by students from around the world. 

To coincide with the 2014 Paris Motor Show, Valeo is kicking off its second “Valeo Innovation Challenge 2015” contest. The competition invites students from engineering,technology and science schools and universities worldwide to take an active role in automobile innovation. Their task is to come up with automotive solutions that will make cars smarter and more intuitive by 2030. The students will be asked to develop bold, revolutionary solutions for the communities of tomorrow.

The contest serves to demonstrate that innovation is part of Valeo’s DNA and that Research & Development are a priority for the company. This strategy guides the work of Valeo’s 9,000 engineers, who innovate daily to invent the car of tomorrow. 

Valeo plans to hire more than 1,000 engineers and technicians a year over the next three years and wants to make students aware of the challenges offered by professions in the automotive industry.

Entries would be judged based on the following criteria

* Boldness, innovation and originality (50%)

* Importance and relevance of the problem addressed and consideration of social needs (20%)

* Presentation quality of the submission (10%)

* Technical proficiency (10%)

* Feasibility of the prototype (10%)

There are 3 phases in this challenge

Phase 1: Call for entries and registration (deadline:February 2,2015). Project outline limited to six pages, illustrations (photos,diagrams) permitted, including a mandatory, concise one-page
summary of the entire project.

Phase 2: Prototyping (deadline: July 17, 2015). The 20 qualifying teams will have 16 weeks to finalize their project (description and prototype).Production of a prototype and/or other media (video,slideshow, flash animation, 2D or 3D images, etc.), as well as a written document not to exceed 20 pages.

Phase 3: Awards. The winning team and second- and third-place teams will be announced and presented with an award at the Frankfurt Motor Show (2015 IAA) in September 2015.

Awards

* Grand Prize Winner: €100,000 (shared equally amongst team members)

* Second and third place winners: €10,000 (shared equally amongst team members)

* cost of travel to Frankfurt, Germany for all members of the six finalist teams, including round-trip airfare and accommodation
(this does not include meals, beverages, personal expenses, trips and entertainment not provided by the organizer; these will be at the sole expense of the finalists)

* The 20 teams selected to build a model for phase 2 will each have €5,000 to develop their idea and build a functional prototype,which could be physical equipment or software

Eligibility

* Open to students from engineering, technology and science schools and universities

* Submissions are limited to one per person (same name and same e-mail address). Teams may be multidisciplinary and draw on the skills of students in other fields such as design, sociology, philosophy, urban planning, architecture, biology, etc.

* Participants must have permission to travel outside their country of residence and, by September 2015, have a passport that is valid for at least six months past the date of the awards ceremony (September 2015)

* Each team leader should assemble all of the documents and banking information – IBAN, Swift number, bank name and country of residence – that will be requested prior to disbursement of the funding for the prototyping phase

* The following people are ineligible:

(1) Employees of the organizer, its subsidiaries, its parent company or companies managed by the same parent company and their children

(2)Individuals who helped
organize the contest and their children

(3)Individuals with a conflict of interest.

How to Enter

* Create a team of 2 to 5 students from any discipline and register here

* Each team shall designate a team leader to represent it who would handle communication with Valeo

* Come up with a technology to improve the car of the future,

* write a 1- to 6-page project description (you may include photos and diagrams) in English and submit it by 12 noon CET on February 2, 2015

Application Deadline: February 2, 2015

For more information
Click here or contact
[email protected]