The 4th edition of the challenge AERTEC Solutions Challengeorganised by the international aeronautical engineering and consultancy firm AERTEC Solutions and the University of Malaga, in collaboration with the Imagine Creativity Center and the Banco Sabadell Foundation, already has a winning team. Three students from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid have managed to win the competition with their robot FlyFriend, an assistant that facilitates the transit of passengers on arrival at the airport. showing them all the information they need (check-in counter, boarding gate, security check) as well as different personalised proposals (recommendations for eating, shops, leisure areas) to optimise and enjoy their waiting time. This assistant also transports any type of hand luggage so that passengers can feel more comfortable during their stay at the airport.
Two others deserve special mention finalist projects of this challenge. Downwash PowerThe idea, proposed by a team from the Master's Degree in Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Seville, seeks to take advantage of the jet of the aircraft's engines at start-up to generate electrical energy that will be consumed by the airport. Y ICDestinyThis is an initiative of a multidisciplinary team from the University of Malaga (Degrees in Tourism, Business Administration and Management, and Industrial Organisation Engineering) that applies Virtual Reality technologies to provide an immersive experience of the tourist destination where passengers are going while waiting for their flight. It is worth noting that in this edition more than half of the teams that have taken part in the challenge are students from the University of Malaga.
This challenge has had two phases: the first, held a week ago at the Palacio de Ferias y Congresos de Málaga, FYCMA, and in which nine proposals from Andalusian university students from different disciplines were finalists. All of them with a common denominator: implement the use and exploitation of the millions of data generated by airports to improve the passenger experience.. These initiatives that reached the final were based on apps, autonomous vehicles, software and virtual assistants with the idea of facilitating and improving airport stays.
The second and final phase was held at The Green Ray Building, the headquarters of Link by UMA ATech, where the finalists competed in the Aertec Challenge Hackathonorganised by the Malaga-based company Innovación Colectiva. At this stage, the teams have been concentrating on a total immersion process to evolve your entrepreneurial ideas with the support of business, technology and design specialists, and mentored by AERTEC Solutions' Aviation team, headed by Carlos Berenguer and Pedro Pablo Sánchez, General Manager of Aviation and Innovation Director, respectively, who, as part of the jury, together with Antonio Peñafiel, Director of the University of Malaga's Employability and Entrepreneurship Service, have chosen the winning team.
The winners will participate in the entrepreneurship competition. Imagine Express 2020The Imagine Creativity Center's programme is aimed at improving business ideas with the advice of professionals during a 4-day trip, which will allow them to present their project to investors both at the legendary London Eye Ferris wheel in the British capital and at the next edition of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
