CESAER – Best Idea – A promising first selection phase
In the first selection phase, five projects of the highest level have been selected.
In September 2020, CESAER launched the Best Idea competition, which aims at fostering innovative projects in answer to the Sustainable Development Goals. In the first selection phase, which was closed in March, 19 projects were submitted by teams of students. The projects were assessed by three-expert panel according to the following criteria: Scientific Excellence, Project Management, and Impact & Dissemination. The five teams of students whose high-level projects were selected are now going to have time to further develop their ideas, supported by members of CESAER and a coach recruited for the occasion. They will then submit their projects in a second qualification phase in the summer. The 20,000 euro prize will be awarded on the occasion of the CESAER Annual Conference organised in Lund in October 2021.
The perspective of the Chairman of the competition, Marc Zolver (CentraleSupélec)
Marc Zolver, UPSaclay representative for CESAER, describes the competition in more detail: "There is an abundance of student idea and project competitions around the Sustainable Development Goals so there is nothing original in the fact that a network such as CESAER should organise one. However, the competition we are organising is innovative in that it offers a bottom-up approach where students make their own application and, what is more, will be offered support over the course of a semester to develop their ideas. Close to 20 projects were submitted in the course of this first edition, all in different levels of advancement: some are led by structured teams who have been working together for some time on their project, and others that are only in the first stages of their initiative. However, all projects left their mark through their quality, relevance, and the engagement of their students.”
Focus on a project submitted by a team of students from Université Paris-Saclay
Among applicants, an UPSaclay team led by a brilliant student in second year Biology, Baptiste Ortheau, presented an ambitious and ground-breaking project. The Prometheus project is, as such, an innovative solution aiming at the conversion of electrical energy radiations that can be used by all thanks to a biotechnological approach. It combines physics, biology and social utility. Although it was not selected, the Prometheus project held the attention of the CESAER UPSaclay team for its relevance and innovative feature.
Baptiste tells us a little more about his experience in the application procedure: “By participating in this competition, I was able to present and realise an idea that I have been thinking about for a long time. It was a great opportunity to give shape to our idea and to get scientific feedback on a European level. Thanks to the CESAER competition, we are now developing our project in an entrepreneurial form. We are receiving support from the entrepreneurial department of UPSaclay and are going to follow the training offered by CESAER to this end in June.”
More information about the project on the Instagram Page
Members of the project from left to right: Margaux Becker, Baptiste Ortheau, Alexanne Dion, Christian Tchengang-Tchoula, Pauline Le Callonnec et Jason Koehrer.
