OREANDA-NEWS. Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management and automation, has announced the selection of the 12 teams for the final round of the sixth edition of Go Green in the City, its international student competition to find innovative energy solutions for smart cities.

The 12 teams that will take part in the final in Paris on 19-22 September 2016 are: Anemoi (Germany); Cyclicity (Canada); DeLight (Azerbaijan); Green Dreamers (China); Green Link (China); Holoenergy-energy for all (Brazil); Scarf (Indonesia); SolarWay (United Arab Emirates); Spartans (India); Team Achievers (Kenya); The Mavericks (India); Xponential (China - Hong Kong SAR).

These finalists now have eight weeks to prepare for their presentations and question and answer sessions with a jury panel of Schneider Electric experts and managers. Each team will continue to receive support from their mentor, a Schneider Electric employee providing advice since the semi-final. The role of these mentors is to help the candidates develop their ideas and business cases, focusing on impacts, user needs, feasibility and return on investment.

“This competition raises awareness of Schneider Electric among thousands of students worldwide, enabling them to see how it would be a great place to work for them to work one day. It is also an opportunity to share the Group’s ambition of innovating at every level to help rethink industries, transform cities and enrich the lives of citizens through energy management technology and automation,” said James Nathan, Enterprise Account Manager at Schneider Electric Canada and a mentor on the past four Go Green in the City competitions.

An increasingly popular global competition

Launched in 2011, Go Green in the City offers engineering and business students (starting from the second-year of university) a chance to present their innovative energy management ideas for the smart cities of the future. As in previous years, participants must propose an energy management solution to meet the needs of smart cities in one of the five areas: residential, universities, business, hospitals or water management. Each team must include at least one woman.

Interest in Go Green in the City has grown considerably since its launch. This year, Schneider Electric received more than 16,400 applications for the competition, compared with 12,800 in 2015. Applications for the 2016 competition came from students worldwide, particularly in China, Eastern Asia, India and North America. From the 16,466 applications, 1,184 teams from 180 countries competed in the first round, and the 12 finalists selected after the second round.