Valeo has announced that it will kick off its second annual global innovation contest, the Valeo Innovation Challenge in the autumn. The challenge offers young engineers worldwide the opportunity to create the equipment that will make cars more intelligent and intuitive by 2030.The contest also sees engineering students from around the world compete to win a €100,000 grand prize.

Comprising teams of two to five people, engineering students can take part by presenting a relevant, innovative project in English on the contest’s website, valeoinnovationchallenge.valeo.com. The aim is to stimulate the students’ creativity, enabling them to form multidisciplinary teams. In this way, engineering students can join forces with students in the social sciences or any other scientific discipline that they think could be useful for their innovation project.

The 20 shortlisted teams will then be asked to create a model in the format of their choice (physical mock-up, application or other). Each team will be given €5,000 to put their idea into practice and build a functioning demonstrator.

The finalists then present their projects to the Challenge jury of Valeo experts and outside partners, chaired by Valeo CEO Jacques Aschenbroich, at the 2015 Frankfurt Auto Show.

The Valeo Innovation Challenge is part of Valeo’s innovation strategy, supported by the company’s annual Research and Development budget of over €1 billion.