Valencia Digital Summit (VDS2023) has significantly contributed to nurturing talent and fostering innovative culture within the university environment through The Challenge. This initiative, jointly organised by the UPV and Startup Valencia, in collaboration with of HP, Valencia City Council, Valencia Activa, VLC Tech City and Curiosibot, aims to enable participants to develop their skills by tackling real-world challenges presented by HP, Mapfre, Damm, Valencia City Council, Universitat Politècnica de València and Startup Valencia.
The competition received nearly 300 applications, from which 72 participants were selected, including a noteworthy 10% from international universities, and then divided into 12 teams.
Under a hackathon format, the teams were guided by leading experts from companies such as BStartup from Banco Sabadell, Mapfre, Banco Santander, HP, Fundación ValenciaPort or Marina de Empresas; entities such as Ideas UPV or Startup Valencia; and leading startups such as Trazable, Bounsel or GoKoan, in the development of an innovative product or service capable of providing a solution to modern-day problems.
The projects were presented a week later in a pitch session held during the sixth edition of VDS. The finalists were awarded prizes at the closing ceremony of the international technology event on the 27th of October. These awards, in addition to the heightened visibility at an important gathering such as VDS2023, come with a monetary prize of up to 5,000 euros.
Innova Metrics emerged as the winning project and Connecting Startup VLC and Ecovolt Sensor as finalists. David Gastón, Software Engineering Section Manager at HP, and Salvador Coll, Vice-Rector for Innovation and Transfer at the UPV, awarded them their respective prizes.
The jury in charge of assessing the proposals was composed of Juan Cumbrado, Innovation Director at Mapfre; Jordi Torrent, Open Innovation Manager at Damm; David Gastón, Software Engineering Section Manager at HP; Lucía Calabria, Deputy Director of Entrepreneurship at Valencia Activa; Julián Talón, Startup Advisor at Ideas UPV and Karina Virrueta, Head of Innovation Ecosystem at Startup Valencia.
Innova Metrics – Damm Challenge. The winning project presented an innovative strategy focusing on capturing high-value data for Damm, coupled with the enhancement of its use and processing. The solution proposes the capture of better data through a free app for the customer that gamifies the experience and whose data is interconnected with the company’s current data. It is then processed to obtain high-potential market segments and propose strategies to target them and generate engagement.
Connecting Startup VLC – Startup Valencia Challenge. This finalist project addresses the challenge posed by the difficulty of connecting entrepreneurs to co-found companies, bringing together people with viable ideas and people with technical skills to strengthen their development. To this end, it proposes a platform that allows entrepreneurs in phase zero to connect through video-pitches.
Ecovolt Sensor – HP Challenge. The finalist team aims to reduce pollution caused by the inappropriate use of household appliances through the use of smart plugs, which collect electricity consumption data and control the activation of electrical appliances. In this way, the user visualises and manages this data through an app, while an AI offers advice on how to save energy and money.
