Zurich, June 12, 2012 – The winner of the European student competition be.project lead by management and technology consultancy BearingPoint (www.bearingpoint.com) has been chosen: a French student team from Ecole Polytechnique and ESCP Europe has convinced the jury in Brussels with their ambitious and innovative project “AirSerenity”, an interior depollution device that eliminates the three main kinds of air pollutants (particles, chemical components and bacteria/viruses). The project is rewarded with 30,000 Euros and BearingPoint support in implementing the project. Joseph Youssef, co-founder of AirSerenity, declared: “We are proud and happy to win this award and BearingPoint support. This award coming from such an excellent consultancy is extremely important for us: it will help us to make our innovation real and to keep on developing it.”
Be.project was launched last year as an annual European competition aimed at students from selected top colleges and universities in Belgium/Netherlands, France, Germany, and Switzerland. Student teams were invited to submit their ideas for a project of general interest and high commitment that makes a difference. About 40 European colleges and universities took part in this competition, leading to almost 90 registrations. After a selection process in the participating countries, in addition to the “AirSerenity” project in France the following teams won the €15,000 local award and BearingPoint support in implementing their projects:
- aQysta (Belgium/Netherlands): the development of a hydro-powered irrigation system for developing countries;
- TeilMahl (Germany): the implementation of a social platform/app for people to share their spare food and stop throwing it away
- partici.pe (Switzerland): a system to support local volunteers especially for young people and their associations or projects.
All projects were evaluated based on:
- Overall quality of the project: the ethics of the approach, the concept of generosity or sharing, embracing innovation and change;
- Team spirit: the level of commitment and the notion of initiative;
- Capability to deliver the expected results: realism and pragmatism, achievement of initial tangible results;
- Originality and creativity;
- Contribution to BearingPoint.
The competition and the total grant – one of the highest in Europe – highlight BearingPoint’s commitment towards European universities and top schools and their students to support large-scale projects and create long-term relationships with them. Andreas Merbecks, Partner at BearingPoint and be.project Jury-President in Switzerland: “Also this year's edition of be.project has seen highly engaged students with very convincing ideas. These creative projects were focused on the targeted use of technology, to improve both the social and ecological sustainability of our society. All regional finalists have presented excellent ideas and deserve our appreciation. We are happy to support all finalists during the realization of their projects.”
For more information visit also www.beproject-europe.com and http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beproject-by-BearingPoint/168020689894262
About BearingPoint
BearingPoint delivers business consulting with management and technology capabilities. As an independent firm with European roots and global reach BearingPoint serves leading companies and public sector organisations world-wide to align and optimise processes, IT and operating models with business strategy. Driven by a strong entrepreneurial mindset and desire to create long-term partnerships, BearingPoint’s consultants are committed to delivering excellence and value to their clients. The firm’s approach to working with clients is highly collaborative and designed to improve business performance, from strategy through to execution. BearingPoint currently employs 3,200 people in 15 countries.
For more information, please visit: www.bearingpoint.com
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Svenja HubliAnalystSwitzerland