4th European hackathon: decarbonising freight transport

The European Hackathon of Université Gustave Eiffel

The European Hackathon was created in 2021 through a partnership between AFIT France and the Université Gustave Eiffel. Its aim is to get students from France and other European countries to work together on mobility transition issues. The event begins with distance learning sessions, followed by a four-day intensive session organised at the Ecole des Ingénieurs de la Ville de Paris (EIVP), at the end of which participants present their projects to a panel of judges.

Each year, the event brings together around forty Masters students from the Gustave Eiffel University, its member schools and component institutions, as well as universities in other European countries. The participating students are divided into multidisciplinary teams from different countries. The diversity of approaches and cultures enables them to compare solutions and develop innovative projects. The teams are supported throughout their work by coaches and experts, to guide them and prepare them for the final presentations in the form of pitches.

The aim of the scheme is to get students to work on practical issues and come up with solutions to current challenges. The way it is organised, the European Hackathon represents an original, intensive course of collective and international work:

“I appreciated the opportunity to work with students from different backgrounds. The Hackathon allowed us to consider new perspectives, to think about our future careers and to develop soft skills. It also allowed us to confront different opinions and to work these differences out together.”  for Mariangela Durigon, a design student at the IUAV in Venice.

The awards took place on the morning of 25 March at the Ministry of Ecological Transition, on the occasion of AFIT France's 20th anniversary, in the presence of a jury chaired by Mr Franck Leroy, President of the Regional Council of the Grand-Est Region and Chairman of the Board of Directors of AFIT France ; and comprised Fabienne Keller, Member of the European Parliament, Antoine Robichet, Supply Chain Advisor, Freight and Logistics Mission - General Directorate for Infrastructure, Transport and Mobility, Ministry of Ecological Transition and Town and Country Planning, Gilles Roussel, President of the Université Gustave Eiffel and Sylvie Chevrier, Deputy International Vice-President of the Université Gustave Eiffel.

Three of the eight projects were awarded prizes by the jury. The students who won first prize also had the pleasant surprise of receiving a special prize from Fabienne Keller, Member of the European Parliament: on 07 May, the Ecoloop team has been invited to the European Parliament in Strasbourg to present its project once again as part of the 20th anniversary of AFIT France and the 5th anniversary of Mai à vélo. 

2^nd Price: Project E-motion

Francesca Romana DORIA - IUAV University of Venice, Italie 
Gabriel LEJEUNE - École d’Urbanisme de Paris, Université Gustave Eiffel
Elena TRABUCCO - IUAV University of Venice, Italie 
Clément TYCHYJ – ENSG - Géomatique, Université Gustave Eiffel

E-MOTION represents the transfer of the TOSA power supply technology used on buses to trucks in order to optimize recharging, particularly in logistics zones, thereby enabling the spread of electric vehicles for urban delivery. 

The jury appreciated the analysis of the technology's transferability and the potential for its implementation in the logistics zones identified.

The students in this team received an interrail ticket to travel for 10 days over two months throughout Europe.