PARIS – Valeo has announced the seven teams selected by its experts to present their projects to a jury in Paris on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014, with the chance of winning the €100,000 first prize.

The shortlisted teams represent six countries from four continents: Australia, Germany, the United States, Brazil, Canada and India.

Nearly 1,000 teams from 55 countries signed up for a chance to propose and develop daring solutions that will revolutionize the automobile of 2030.

Many original, varied and innovative projects, including some of outstanding quality, were examined by Valeo experts. The technical solutions proposed by the contestants are illustrative of each country’s prevailing societal concerns, according to Valeo. For example, the Indian engineering students are focusing on road safety, while the European students, like their North American peers, are more concerned about reducing carbon emissions and creating a smart, connected and autonomous vehicle. Across the board, they are working to make the car of 2030 a cleaner, safer and more enjoyable ride.

The seven finalist teams are:

For Australia, the UTS Unleashed team from the University of Technology Sydney
For Brazil, the Sadec team from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
For Canada, the Three VeMAColleagues from the University of Waterloo
For Canada, the UOttawa team from the University of Ottawa
For Germany, the AEM team from the Karlsruher Institut für Technologie
For India, the Falcons team from the Vellore Institute of Technology
For USA, the CU ICAR team from Clemson University

Each team will present their project to the Challenge jury on Oct. 16 in conjunction with the 2014 Paris Motor Show.

Jacques Aschenbroich, Valeo CEO and Guillaume Devauchelle, vice-
president group innovation and scientific development, will announce the winners at a press conference attended by the students on Friday, Oct. 17 at 9 a.m. at the Maison de La Recherche in Paris.

The jury, which is comprised of Valeo executives and outside partners, will be chaired by Aschenbroich. The winning team will take home a €100,000 prize and the second and third place teams each will receive €10,000.

Launched by Valeo in September 2013, the Valeo Innovation Challenge is a global contest open to engineering students around the world, who are invited to play an active role in automobile innovation by designing the product or system that will create smarter, more intuitive cars by 2030.

Valeo will kick off the next Valeo Innovation Challenge for students worldwide at the 2014 Paris Motor Show.

In 2013, for the second consecutive year, Valeo was featured in Thomson Reuters’ Top 100 Global Innovators ranking, reflecting the Group’s commitment to innovation.

For more information on the Innovation Challenge, go to: https://valeoinnovationchallenge.valeo.com/.