SAP today announced the 2013 winners of its Global Connected Car and Utility of Tomorrow Innovation contests. Attracting submissions from university students worldwide, SAP narrowed down the list of finalists and selected winners who this summer will get the opportunity to refine and implement their proposals with the help of industry experts.
With the goal of exploring the path to commercial adoption for their ideas, winners will spend a week this summer working alongside engineers from SAP’s contest sponsors, such as San Diego Gas & Electric.
Digital tools and social media are second nature to today's generation of students; with its contests, SAP joins companies such as Dow, Dell and Intel in using crowdsourcing to tap into this wellspring of creative problem-solving to find more efficient ways to tackle everyday obstacles and make industries more sustainable. The applications developed by this year’s winners have the potential to help guide consumer behavior toward more sustainable practices.
“Millennials have two expectations that will transform industries: Business is mobile and it must be more sustainable,” said Gil Perez, SVP of Sustainable Industries and general manager of Connected Vehicles, SAP. “With their focus and unique relationship to technology, we believe this generation can develop groundbreaking new business models. Starting with the automotive and utility industries, SAP is bringing together leading customers from these verticals with the best student teams to take their ideas to the next level. Using the SAP HANA Cloud Platform, these groups will create financially viable connected services that incentivize consumers to act in an environmentally responsible manner.”
For the Global Connected Car Contest, six winners were chosen for proposals that would impact the automotive industry under the following categories: urban mobility, traffic, fueling, parking, food and other. One example is the winning student submissions from Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research in South Carolina in the parking category. Their parking application, ParkinGain, is designed to match drivers with parking spots based on price, location, travel time, and distance to their final destination. ParkinGain is an example of how personalization technology can integrate with both digital and physical infrastructure to improve the driving experience and urban vitality of a city. The app plans to include discounts to local businesses, as well as navigation directions and payment options. The same Clemson team also won for their submission in the food category.
The Utilities of Tomorrow Contest asked students to submit solutions in the areas of green energy, smart appliances, sustainable resources and electric vehicles. Five winners were selected across the four categories, including the proposal for Green Home, a green energy mobile app submitted by the Dubai Women's College — Higher Colleges of Technology, which aims to help consumers manage and reduce home electricity use with advanced home energy management systems, combined with an element of gamification to share results over social media.
Visit the contest websites for a full list of winners and sponsoring customers.
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Published Feb 23, 2014 12am EST / 9pm PST / 5am GMT / 6am CET