EuroTeQaThon 2024: L’X welcomed the participants from nine European partner institutions

Twenty-one student teams from nine partner institutions across Europe met at École Polytechnique for the fourth edition of the EuroTeQathon from June 8 to 10, 2024. This international competition, organized as part of the EuroTeQ Engineering University, of which l’X is a founding institution, represents the final stage of a project assignment that the teams of students have worked on for several months. The best teams of each EuroTeQ partner institution gather at the EuroTeQathon to further improve their projects through workshops and feedback sessions and then make their pitch to the jury. 

The theme of this year’s edition “Enhance Connections for a Sustainable Future“ stresses EuroTeQ’s ambition to promote solutions that bring about positive change. The projects developed by the students had to address concrete issues linked to one of the three following categories: “Nature”, “Technology”, and “People”.

The competition brought together close to ninety students and forty teachers, experts and staff from the EuroTeQ member institutions, which are École Polytechnique, the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU), HEC Paris, IESE Business School, the Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris), and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).

However, the EuroTeQathon's purpose was more than just designating the winning teams. The event offered students from the various teams an opportunity to discuss issues linked to inclusion and sustainability in developing new products and services, so that they can better consider sustainability and strengthen their ties to others. 

A team of three students from l’X - Luisa Maria Zuniga Benavides, Ruba Bin Jabal et Sendong Liu – who study in École Polytechnique’s Master’s degree in Economics, Data Analytics and Corporate Finance presented their project “ReButtify”. Developed as part of a course dedicated to entrepreneurship and innovation, it offers a new solution for recycling cigarette butts in urban spaces.

“Ergonomia” is the project designed by the team from ENSAE, a founding institution of Institut Polytechnique de Paris. Their solution aims to optimize building energy consumption and thus reduce carbon emissions.

The winning projects illustrate the variety of challenges tackled

The diversity of the winning projects in the three categories illustrates the variety of challenges the students tackled. The jury, composed of nine experts in innovation and entrepreneurship, each affiliated with one of the EuroTeQ member institutions, assessed each project according to three criteria: impact, innovativeness, and level of advancement.

The "Ahead of New" project, presented by a team of DTU students, won in the category "People". Proposing to reduce waste resulting from electronic devices, the team's solution uses AI to diagnose problems and guide users toward repair options, avoiding the need to replace the device with a new one.

A team of students from TUM was declared the winner in the category "Nature" for their project "FarmElf". This project aims to determine the optimal nutritional value of hay by using relevant data generated in the field, to offer dairy cows a quality feed that enhances health while reducing methane generation.

The solution "Revolty", which reuses electric vehicle batteries to store solar energy, emerged as the winner in the "Technology" category. The project was elaborated by the team from HEC Paris.
In addition, a vote from the audience determined the pitch and project idea they were most enthralled by. Conceived to reduce Postpartum hemorrhages (PPH), the project « UTER » was developed by a team of students from Taltech. The solution consists of an easy-to-use belt surrounded by sensors that can send an alert to prevent PPH.

Showcasing innovative and highly promising projects, developed by students from the EuroTeQ member universities in France, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Estonia, Switzerland and the Czech Republic, the EuroTeQaThon 2024 proved and reinforced the community’s commitment to strengthening inclusion and sustainability.

About EuroTeQ Engineering University

The European university EuroTeQ is an alliance of higher education institutions to reinforce international collaboration in engineering and technology. EuroTeQ Engineering University focuses on innovative pedagogic approaches and collaborative research to address today’s societal challenges. The students of the member institutions benefit from joint study programs and international mobility.
EuroTeQ is co-funded by the European Commission as part of the Erasmus+ program and benefits from additional funding as part of the France 2030 program, operated by the French National Research Agency (ANR).