Mondragon Unibertsitatea undergraduate and Master’s engineering students dominate the podium of the 3rd edition of the surfboard innovation contest

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Mondragon Unibertsitatea undergraduate and Master’s engineering students dominate the podium of the 3rd edition of the surfboard innovation contest

CONTEST

Mondragon Unibertsitatea undergraduate and Master’s engineering students dominate the podium of the 3rd edition of the surfboard innovation contest

Students of the Degree in Industrial Ecotechnologies have won the first prize, while the students of the Industrial Master’s Degree won third place. The contest aims to promote the development and commercialisation of the surf industry and to project the highest quality processes and products.

2020·07·16

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The EKOZAINTZAILEAK project, presented by third-year students of the Degree in Ecotechnologies in Industrial Processes at Mondragon Unibertsitatea was the winner of the 3rd edition of the Surfboard Innovation Contest promoted by Fomento San Sebastián and the Donostia Surfcity Cluster. The winning group presented a project involving a surfboard made from a cardboard mesh structure. In addition, the SURFTEK project presented by students of the Industrial Master’s Degree of Mondragon Unibertsitatea reached 3rd place. In this case, the team proposed an autonomous and automated board rental system that, through a beachfront guard stand and a mobile app, allows people who do not have their own equipment or who are not carrying it at a favourable moment to go surfing.

This Surfboard Innovation Contest aims to promote the development and commercialisation of the surf industry and to project the highest-quality processes and products. It aims to bring the open innovation processes of the university closer to the company, with the dual objective of discovering a sector with professional development potential for university students and transforming this innovation into future business initiatives or innovative products that can be absorbed by the current industry.

In the deliberation, the jury wished to emphasise that the winning project, presented by Enire Beain, Andrea Romero, Olatz Ruiz de Galarreta and Ander Zubelzu, proposes a marketable product, while respecting the environment and taking into account both the user and the manufacturing process, with mutual benefits. The prize consists of €1,000 and a business trip accompanying the DonosaSurfCity cluster, within its framework of actions to boost the sector. In turn, the project that reached third place was presented by Maddi Bueno, Asier Galarza, Araitz Iturgaiz, Mikel Larrañaga, and Xabier Olamendi. In this case, the jury wished to emphasise that the innovation in distribution they propose could help modernise San Sebastián, positioning it as a sport hub and a youth destination.

Categories and jury

The contest establishes three categories: Surfboard Supplements, Surfboard Production Processes, and Improving Surfboard Performance. In this third edition, 22 projects were submitted to the contest.

The jury, composed of representatives from companies such as Pukas, Surflogic and Trinity Board Technologies, evaluated the innovative component of the ideas, the presentation of the projects, the contribution to the evolution of surfboards, the practicality of the project, and the contribution to the improvement of surfers’ comfort.