Pune team among top 15 contenders for atos it contest

The teams are to create an app that offers well-being of drivers and passengers on the move. A team of engineering students from city’s Bharati Vidyapeeth (Deemed University) are among the

top 15 contending teams shortlisted for the global second Atos IT Challenge. The project  ‘Carvolutionaries’ was submitted by the BVDU students ranking 15th, which received more than 1,000

votes on Facebook. IT services company and worldwide IT partner for the International Olympic Committee, Atos, announced that this year’s competition is led by car manufacturer Renault. They

are looking for the IT talents of the future from more than 20 universities worldwide. The teams are to create an application that offers well-being of the drivers and passengers on the

move and will be judged by a panel from Renault and Atos.  A total of 55 entries from 20 universities across the world were received since the competition opened in November last year. In

fact, 15 shortlisted teams comprising 55 students have been selected by the judging panel. For this year’s challenge, the theme was ‘Connected Car’ wherein teams comprising five participants

each were tasked with demonstrating their application and show how it will work in the car environment, taking into account the speed of travel. The task also included presenting the

business case to explain how it can be a commercial success.  On the selection of the shortlist, Gilles Grapinet, senior executive vice-president, global functions at Atos said, “As business

technologists who power progress, we are excited to see how these shortlisted students have brought their knowledge and creativity into Connected Cars applications that are both innovative

and commercially viable.” The three finalists will be announced in May and the overall winner at an awards ceremony in June. The prize winners will be awarded an Atos diploma and each member

of the overall winning team will also win a trip of a lifetime to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games.