EDP University Challenge awards students with innovative electrical safety ideas
The winners created an awareness campaign featuring a short movie and interactive minigames
Last week, the 7th edition of the EDP University Challenge awarded a group of students who idealized the awareness campaign Safety ON, which uses characters from a short animated movie and smartphone minigames to provide safety tips to children and adults. The winners - a group of students from the School of Economics and Management of the University of S‹o Paulo (FEA-USP) - received a cash prize of R$16,000, while the project advisor received R$8,000.
Annually held by EDP Brasil, a company engaged in energy generation, trading, services and supply, the EDP University Challenge invites university students from across the country to submit innovative customer-focused projects in order to meet the needs of the EDP Group. Last year, the competition theme was Electrical Safety - Life always comes first.
"It a pleasure to see that our proposal was approved by a major electricity company like EDP. I"m sure that this award will open many doors and opportunities for our early career," says Gustavo Hiranome, member of the winning group.
The young man says that the campaign was made for one of his Marketing classes in college, and that his main goal was to invite all age groups to discuss electrical safety. The team also included students Giovanna Lo Russo, Danilo Mariotti and Anderson Felipe Pereira, with Prof. Andres Veloso as advisor.
The second ranking team, also from FEA-USP, submitted a program titled "EDP Ambassadors", where voluntary customers would spread the company messages and act as a direct communication channel with the concessionaire. The idea is that these customer-assistants would bring the company closer to the population in exchange for discounts on their energy bills. The team and the advisor received R$8,000 and R$4,000, respectively.
The project was created by Victor Pelizalo de Souza, Bruno Ikeuti, Eduardo Urtado and Renan Melo, again with Prof. Andres Veloso as advisor. According to Victor, "the final result was highly rewarding, we feel that we"ve done our part. It was really worth it. "
How to join the EDP University Challenge
Applications for the 2017 edition of the EDP University Challenge are open. This year, the challenge is to submit innovative customer relation projects. With this initiative, the Company seeks to encourage university students to develop ideas to optimize consumer interaction channels and improve existing customer service platforms.
The competition is aimed at undergraduate or postgraduate Management, Strategy, Marketing, Communication and Design students. Candidates from other areas will also be accepted, provided that they evince sufficient knowledge in the areas pertinent to the award.
To participate, candidates must fill out the registration form available on the company website (www.edp.com.br) and submit their project proposals on the theme.
The winning team will be awarded R$16,000, while the advisor will receive R$8,000. The second best team and their advisor will receive R$8,000 and R$4,000, respectively. For the first time, the competition will also award the third best ranking project, with R$4,000 for the students and R$2,000 for the advisor.
Competition structure
EDP University Challenge participants must organize themselves into groups of two to five members, and it is not necessary that they attend the same educational institution. Teacher monitoring is recommended, but not a prerequisite.
The competition has two registration periods, one in the first semester and the other in the second semester. All participants will compete with one another, and the 15 best projects - to be selected by a consultancy firm - will advance to the final round. Projects will be evaluated based on several criteria, criteria, including creativity, innovation, and sustainability.
More information about the application process and the full regulation are available on the website:
http://www.edp.com.br/pesquisadores-estudantes/edp-university-challenge
About EDP Brasil
EDP Brasil is a company engaged in energy generation, transmission, trading, services and supply. The company has been operating in the country for over 20 years and is currently present in eight Brazilian states: Amap‡, Cear‡, Esp’rito Santo, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Par‡, S‹o Paulo and Tocantins. The company is controlled by the EDP Group, one of the largest European electricity operators, present in 14 countries.
