EDP, a company that operates across the country’s electricity value chain, has concluded the 9th edition of the EDP University Challenge, a competition that brings university students and the corporate world together to develop innovative solutions. Over 100 projects - involving around 400 university students from across the country- competed and 10 were selected for the grand finale in São Paulo. First place went to a team of students from FATEC Guaratinguetá for their EDP Reporter project, which uses gamification to encourage people to report energy thefts.

At the group’s solution is intended to encourage customers to report energy theft or energy grid problems. Anyone notifying the Company collects points that can later be exchanged benefits and discounts at partner stores. The winning team members are Juliana Barros, Ana Laura Pimenta, Maria Alencar and Sabrina Medeiros, who were mentored by group adviser Patrícia Cavalca. The students won a seven-day trip to Lisbon, including meals and accommodation.

 “Two words can define the emotion of winning the EDP University Challenge: The first word is achievement, because we really went all out to develop an alternative that would meet both consumer and corporate expectations. The second word is gratitude, for the opportunity EDP gave us and for all the support from our university”, said Juliana Barros.

“What really stood out this year was the creativity of these projects and how well they reflected the challenges our business faces. We were pleasantly surprised with the high academic level of the participating teams”, said Catarina Craveiro, Events and Marketing Manager at EDP Brazil.

Second place went to the FATEC Santos team, which submitted a sentry network that uses current sensors to remotely identify faults on the energy grid. A honorable mention went to the team from the Federal University of Espirito Santo, with their improved design for EDP customer service kiosks. Their project included a Chatbot with a virtual sign language assistant.

Registration now open for the competition’s 10th edition

At the next edition of the EDP University Challenge will use a new format with different challenges. For the first time ever, the contest will link all three regions where EDP operates - Portugal, Spain and Brazil - with the global final being held in Lisbon.

At the slogan for the 2019 edition is “The future”. In Brazil, the theme will be “The House of the Future” and teams are expected to present a template for a smart home that includes automated controls for home appliances and other energy-related products. The themes in Portugal and Spain are “Store of the Future” and “Energy of the Future”, respectively.

Registration is now open to all university students. Teams of 2 or 3 students have until April 12 to enrol at brasil.edp.com/pt-br/university-challenge.

15 groups will be selected for the regional final and the 3 best groups will win a trip to the grand finale in Lisbon and attend a bootcamp in October. The overall winner will receive a trip to Silicon Valley, USA.

About EDP University Challenge

At the EDP University Challenge is an annual contest organized by EDP Brazil which challenges university students across the country to develop innovative projects that present new relationship, integration and optimize tools to improve existing customer service channels to better meet the Company’s customer-facing requirements.

About EDP Brazil

EDP has over 20 years’ experience and is one of the biggest private-sector companies operating across the entire value chain. The Company has over 10,000 direct and indirect staff and is involved in energy Generation, Distribution, Transmission, Sales and Services. The company has six hydro power plants and one thermal power station that serve around 3.4 million people in the states of São Paulo and Espírito Santo. The Company recently acquired a majority stake in CELESC, from Santa Catarina. In Brazil, the company is noted for its Innovation, Governance and Sustainability and has been included in the B3 Business Sustainability Index (BSI) for 13 consecutive years.