Last weekend, the HPE headquarters in Madrid hosted the final of the fifth edition of the HPE CDS Tech Challenge, an initiative to recruit, develop and promote young technological talent promoted by HPE and developed by CDS, an HPE company. Coinciding with its fifth anniversary, the challenge has celebrated its first international edition, with the incorporation for the first time of countries such as Mexico and Colombia, along with Spain. In total, this edition had 559 participants.
After six months of online competition, the final phase has brought together five teams from the three countries in a hackathon of young talent lasting 25 uninterrupted hours, focused on developing technological solutions for some of the great urban challenges, from the management of critical resources and emergency response to connectivity and digital security.
Solutions with tangible impact
“The HPE CDS Tech Challenge is not just a competition, it is a real lever for transformation,” says Esther de Gaspar, General Manager of Spain & Portugal at CDS, an HPE company. “We connect young talent with challenges that matter, bringing them closer to real environments where we apply artificial intelligence and data in solutions with tangible impact. Because the future is not expected: it is built, and we build it together.”
The competition, with international scope, has been developed in the context of the HPE GreenLake Alliance, an international network that connects smart urban infrastructures between Spain, Mexico and Colombia. Under this framework, participants have worked on the same objective: designing solutions for smarter, sustainable and collaborative cities based on technologies such as artificial intelligence, data analysis and advanced computing.
The program started last November and has reproduced for several months a real environment of technological innovation structured in three phases: a first for solving challenges, a second for the evolution of projects in complex scenarios and the final phase in a hackathon format.
“At HPE we firmly believe that the future of technology lies in young talent and their ability to apply innovation to real challenges,” explains Alfredo Yepez, Senior Vice President and General Director of Latin America and Southern Europe (LASER) at HPE, and President and CEO of HPE Spain. “With the HPE CDS Tech Challenge, we reinforce our commitment to training, employability and innovation with positive impact. More than a competition, it connects students with the professional world and helps them develop key skills in a real technological environment.”
«I am always excited to see that in Spain there is capacity, talent, new ideas, desire to work. Future. We live in an increasingly digital and connected world, hyper-competitive and dominated by technology, but, in the end, the most important thing is talent, which must be pampered, encouraged and supported, as HPE and CDS do; and as we do in our city,” explains José de la Uz, mayor of Las Rozas. “The Tech Challenge, in which Ibero-American countries also participate, also reflects the importance of international collaboration, sharing knowledge and generating joint opportunities. “It responds to the same philosophy that we follow in Las Rozas: promoting continuous training, supporting young talent and connecting it with companies, helping entrepreneurs.”
Seed Solutions AI Team, from the National Open and Distance University (UNAD), competed from Colombia. From Mexico, 52Sec, from the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, did it. The Spanish representation was made up of GTP and CyberQueens, both from the European University of Madrid, and Tres Días de Gracia, from the IES San Clemente in Santiago de Compostela.
Winning projects and teams
For the first time in the history of the HPE CDS Tech Challenge, the winning team is made up of students from a higher level of Web Application Development. This is “Three days of grace”, from IES San Clemente, in Santiago de Compostela, which has won the victory for its comprehensive Digital Twin management platform for emergency vehicles, designed to optimize response times, operational coordination and use of resources in critical incidents. The solution allowed the simultaneous management of multiple units – police, firefighters, ambulances and drones – within a connected and intelligent environment, incorporating simulation, real-time monitoring and decision-making support.
The jury especially valued the integration of different user modes, from control operators to citizens, including a progressive mobile application (PWA) from which citizens could report incidents and receive alerts, connecting directly to the central system. In short, “a very complete proposal that combines technological vision, real applicability and social impact, showing how digital twins can transform the emergency management of the future,” as comments Jairo Luzón, director of the HPE CDS Tech Challenge and member of the jury.
The participants have worked on the same objective: designing solutions for more intelligent, sustainable and collaborative cities.
As part of the recognition, the members of the winning team will access a scholarship program aimed at facilitating their professional development at HPE, in addition to various technological awards.
An access route to technological employment
In its five editions, the HPE CDS Tech Challenge has established itself as one of the initiatives in the technology sector aimed at junior profiles with greater connection to the professional environment. Since its launch, the program has brought together more than 1,200 students from more than 70 educational centers. In addition, 20% of the participants in the four previous final phases have ended up joining HPE through scholarships or employment contracts, which reinforces the role of the initiative as a real route to access technological employment.
With this fifth edition, HPE and CDS, an HPE company, consolidate a program that was born in Spain five years ago and that today connects young talent from three countries around challenges with a direct impact on the lives of people, cities and the services that support them.
