Intel Announces Winners of Intel Challenge Europe 2011
at European Forum of New Ideas
Winning projects from Denmark, Poland and Israel range from ways to make the most of an organization’s collective wisdom, to controlling devices using brainwaves
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
- Over 128 projects submitted online to the Intel entrepreneurship competition and 33 teams were selected to attend the European Finals in Sopot, Poland.
- First and second place prizes were awarded by Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament, to teams from Denmark, Israel and Poland during the European Forum for News Ideas* and Christian Morales, VP and General Manager Intel Europe, Middle East and Africa .
- European winners will compete at the Intel® Global Challenge at UC Berkeley in November 2011
SOPOT, September 29, 2011 – Intel Corporation today announced the winners of Intel Challenge Europe 2011, a business plan competition designed to identify and support Europe’s strongest entrepreneurial university students.
Two winning teams from both Eastern and Western Europe were selected by a panel of venture capitalists, business leaders, academics and industry experts to represent Europe at the Intel Global Challenge 2011 Finals at UC Berkeley from 8-10 November 2011.
The first prize recipients, each receiving $20,000 in prize money, were BUCKY’o’ZUN from Denmark and Photo-Genie from Israel. BUCKY’o’ZUN proposed a new material that blocks 99.99% of UV light when applied to skin or materials prone to fading, while Photo-Genie makes looking good in photos easy for everyone.
The second prize winners, who received $10,000 each, were NeurON from Poland and WeDecide from Denmark. NeurON created software that uses thoughts, feelings and emotions from brainwaves to control devices, create colors, or control a ‘mind-keyboard’, while WeDecide is a software system that is designed to help organizations realise their collective wisdom in an incentivised, engaging and transparent online decision process.
Other entries included software applications that assist with shopping and cookery tasks, through to developments in medical sciences and motoring technology.
Now in its 6th year, the competition aims to shape a new generation of entrepreneurs and feed the innovation culture by helping to instil interest and development of technological projects with strong business and commercialisation potential.
“Creative young minds can devise some of the best innovations. With support from educational institutions and entrepreneurship organizations across Europe, students are able to develop and commercialize their ideas through coaching and feedback from successful entrepreneurs and investors that create real business value,” said Christian Morales, Vice President and General Manager, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Intel Corporation.
Morales also hosted a roundtable session at the Intel Challenge Europe alongside representatives from Intel Capital and the company’s Corporate Affairs team on the importance of entrepreneurialism. “Entrepreneurialism fuels our future growth,” said Morales, “instilling an entrepreneurial spirit is vital for Europe if we want to stay ahead of the curve.” The roundtable considered why young people must be given the critical thinking and problem solving skills from an early age to ensure they are prepared for lifelong learning. “The Intel Teach program has trained ten million teachers globally on how to use technology in the classroom to inspire learning. Students must be active participants in their education because there are no longer assurances of a job for life in a single profession. Today’s learners are likely to have any number of employed or self employed roles in their careers and it’s our duty to prepare them for tomorrow’s job market,” added Thomas Osburg, Director Europe – Corporate Affairs, Intel. For Marcin Hejka, Managing Director, Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa for Intel Capital, inspiring an entrepreneurial spirit is vital for Europe’s competitiveness: “Entrepreneurialism is the crude oil of job creation and success directly creates jobs. We also need to help entrepreneurs understand the value of failure because not every new venture can succeed but every attempt helps them refine their ideas.”
The next destination for the lucky Intel Challenge Europe winners will be Intel® Global Challenge at UC Berkeley, based in the global technology hub, Silicon Valley. The contestants will be invited to tour some of Silicon Valley’s most recognised start-up companies and meet with investors, while competing for the global title against US and APAC finalists.
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Note to Editors:
The Intel Challenge Europe Finals 2011 were collocated with the European Forum for New Ideas (ENFI) conference in Sopot, Poland from 28 – 30 September 2011. The conference is bringing together business and political leaders from Europe to consider new ideas and realistic solutions to the critical challenges that Poland, Europe and the world are facing today. More information can be found at: http://www.efni.pl/index.php.
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