Business & Money | Monday 11 May, 2015 7:43 am |

23 student teams from 28 participating countries took part in the international final of the “Henkel Innovation Challenge” from April 8-10 in Vienna. During the three-day competition, the student competitors presented their innovative concepts for 2050. The jury of Henkel managers chose the Belgian team “The Sharp Shepards” as its winner. Jérémy Denisty, 23, and Marine Van Halle, 20, students at the Université Catholique de Louvain, won this year’s “Henkel Innovation Challenge.” The team’s “Persil Energy Patch” product was judged superior to the product proposals of their international competition at the final.

Team Persil Eco-Gent from Al Yamamah University also participated in the finals at Vienna after winning the semi-finals hosted in Dubai, UAE. The team comprising Ohoud AlArifi and Maha Aba AlKhail impressed judges with their innovative concept - A detergent that cleans both water and clothes, where water is recycled and can be reused. The team competed at the Vienna finals but it was the Belgian team that eventually emerged victorious. “The event was a real eye-opener and we learnt a lot. It was a truly inspiring experience”, said Maha Aba AlKhail. Their mentor, and the GM of L&HC GCC Ahmed Nasser said about the team. “I’m very proud of our team and happy that they made it this far. We may not have won the first place, but the amount of knowledge and experience gained from this participation is priceless.”
“We feel great about the win. The level of the competition was really high and the teams were top notch,” said Denisty from the winning team. Winner Marine Van Halle had advice for future HIC participants, remarking, “I think that the most important thing is to feel passionate about what you are doing. If you don’t feel passionate, you won’t work enough on your product.” The winners receive an around-the-world-ticket with a value of 10,000 euros and, along with the second and third place teams, will have the opportunity to meet Henkel CEO Kasper Rorsted in person.

The winning team’s product idea, “the Persil Energy Patch” – a revolutionary cleaning technology that improves Persil’s brightness and cleaning results while converting energy generated by the body’s movements into electric power – won the jury over. Teams Darmalite from the Philippines, and Team Cyanofix from Italy came in second and third place respectively. Second prize went to Marco del Valle and Christine Darla Bautista from the University of the Philippines and their product idea “Buchstrahl.” Their vision: a coating that protects surfaces and neutralizes pollutants while harnessing solar energy. The Italian team of Tommaso Bressa and Iva Mladenovic of Bocconi University placed third. Their product is a medical superglue that can be used as a flexible adhesive to keep tissues together after surgeries or cuts.