EBEC 2019-2020

EBEC challenge preliminaries round 1 november 2019

On the 9th of November 2019, BEST Louvain-La-Neuve organized the first round of the EBEC Challenge Preliminaries. This first round gathered 11 teams of students, all motivated to compete, show off their skills and win crazy prizes. This was of course made possible by our partners:

– Odoo for the Case Study, 

– Google for the Team Design

–  Brico and Westmalle for the logistical support.

The first part of the day was dedicated to the Case StudyOdoo exposed a conceptual challenge to the students. It consisted of the design of a new “Knowledge Transfer strategy” for the company. Odoo’s modules are mostly maintained by one employee. Hence it is crucial to have a good transfer of knowledge when that employee leaves the company. The students worked 3 hours on this problem, after which they had to present their solution in front of a jury composed of our partners and some teachers of the university.

The second part of the day was dedicated to the Team Design. Our sponsor, Google, choose the following topic: crazy machines. Google also organizes a Crazy Machine Challenge in Mons each year. So, don’t hesitate to take a peek if you are interested. This year, the crazy machine represented a “Smart House”. The task was to fill a bath on the upper floor, without this one running over. The participants had 3 hours to make the crazy machine, after which they were evaluated by the jury. Aside from the many bloopers :-D, there were also some pretty impressive results from the students.

At the end of the day, everyone enjoyed a delicious Westmalle-Drink and shared their opinions on the day. The participants left this event with new experiences, new skills and around 1000€ in gifts.

EBEC challenge preliminaries round 2 november 2019

On the 23rd of November 2019, BEST Louvain-La-Neuve organized the second round of the EBEC Challenge Preliminaries. Fourteen motivated teams came to compete, show off their skills and win crazy prizes. This was made possible by our partners :

– Netaxis for the Case Study, 

–  Brico and Westmalle for the logistical support.

The first part of the day was dedicated to the Case Study. Netaxis presented a common problem.  It being how to check network availability efficiently in order to be functionable at any time on any device and at any place. Netaxis employees are working on providing integration solutions for Telecom operators installing these networks. The students worked 3 hours on this problem, after which they had to present their solution in front of a jury composed of our partners and some teachers of the university.

The second part of the day was dedicated to the Team Design. We chose the following topic: amphibious machines. The aim was to build a vehicle that could roll down a slope (built by the participants as well) and land while keeping a forward trajectory in a water tank. The participants had 3 hours to build their solutions, after which they were evaluated by the jury. Aside from the couple “splash-full” bloopers, there were some pretty impressive results from the students.

At the end of the day, everyone enjoyed a delicious Westmalle-Drink and shared their opinions on the day. The participants left this event with new experiences, new skills and around 1000€ in gifts.

Ebec challenge local round february 2020

On this 22nd of February took place the local round of EBEC Louvain-la-Neuve in which the 12 BEST teams of the EBEC preliminaries once again tried the challenges proposed by us and our partners. This was made possible by our partners :

  • SNCB/NMBS for the Team Design
  • Westmalle for the logistical support

6 teams were participating to the Team Design proposed by SNCB/NMBS that was all about building railway on mountainous ground with a lots of diverse obstacle such as water or fire. They spent 6 hours trying to build this railway with limited and original materials in the Hall St-barbe and presented their impressive results to a jury composed of our partner and teachers from our university

The 6 other teams were confronting each other on a Case Study specially created by BEST Louvain-la-Neuve. They had 6 hours to imagine an innovative, preventive and original solution to prevent and fight wildfire in a densely habited region such as Belgium. After those 6 hours of hard work in the study room of the Science building, they finally presented and defended they solution to a jury made of university teacher and professional engineer.

This day of competition ended with the traditional drink in partnership with Westmalle’s Abbey who shipped us a generous sample of their products.

And this is how ended the EBEC 2019_2020 Louvain-la-Neuve adventure ends ! Once again a big thanks to every partners who’ve trusted us this year : Odoo, Google, Netaxis, SNCB/NMBS and Westmalle. Also thank you to every member of CECI-BEST Louvain-la-Neuve who helped on the 3 rounds organised in Louvain-la-Neuve and to every participant who gave a lot of time and energy on this competition !

And a special thanks to Jerome Van Der Elst and Nicole Ritter for organising the 2 EBEC preliminaries!

See you next year,

Louis Sartenaer, EBEC Louvain-la-Neuve coordinator 2019-2020