Siemens has uncovered engineering, technology and business talent from Yorkshire through a competition to design the smart and sustainable transport system of the future.
SustainaCity Racer challenged 50 bright sparks from 15 universities across the UK, including the University of York and the University of Sheffield, to design an intelligent, sustainable and interconnected network for a fictional city region, using a variety of transport types for citizens living in different environments.
At the end of the two-day hackathon-style event 22 students and graduates were offered access to early career opportunities with Siemens’ Digital Industries, Smart Infrastructure, and Mobility businesses.
They included Hannah Pope, studying Computer Science at the University of York, and Charuduth Bagha (Bsc in Computer Science), Boon Kean Teo (Msc in Electronics and Computer Engineering), Kacper Sikorski (MEng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering) and Muktha Rajan (MSc in Data Science), who all study at the University of Sheffield.
Hannah, 20, said: “I believe sustainability is an important consideration for ensuring the quality of our future. Using aspects of my degree to explore and develop solutions with regard to transport appealed to me.
“I enjoyed every moment from the brainstorming to presenting our final solution.
“Before this competition, I was very focused on software engineering and pure computer science, but this competition has really opened my eyes to how other engineering disciplines fit together.”
Charuduth, 20, said: “I really enjoyed working as a team with students from other universities that we were not acquainted with, and how the experience tested our leadership, teamwork and communication skills. We answered those challenges really well and the event was enriching for all of us.
“I am really grateful to Siemens for giving me the opportunity to participate in the competition.”
Kacper, 21, said: “I applied for the opportunity to collaborate with like-minded people and increase my knowledge of mobility and IoT technologies.
“The opportunity to design a futuristic mobility system and learn more about Siemens was invaluable.”
Boon, 22, said: “I got involved in the competition because I am passionate about transforming transportation to build a more sustainable future.
“My experience in the competition has exposed me to various forefront technologies that have the potential to revolutionise the way we move. I would like to work towards building the transportation system of the future during my career.”
Muktha, 21, said: “SustainaCity was interesting and challenging. It was an opportunity to demonstrate my technical skills, creativity, confidence, teamwork and communication. The competition has definitely benefited my career and it took my CV to another level.”
For the second year running SustainaCity Racer participants were put into hybrid, multidisciplinary teams and challenged to apply engineering, digital and commercial elements to their designs.
The winning team, Eco Made Easy, proposed using a hyperloop tunnel and hydrofoil water vessel as the main transport, an app using real-time transport data and AI to map fastest, cheapest and most sustainable journeys, and an innovative POD transport which combines rail and bus.
Judges for competition included Thomas Edwards from Siemens Digital Industries, Nikhil Patel from Siemens Smart Infrastructure, and Sophie Marshall-Unit, Charbel Khalil, Hannah Surguy, Miles Moran and Ewan Bradley from Siemens Mobility.
Commenting on the event, Thomas Edwards, Graduate Engineer for Siemens Digital Industries, said: “SustainaCity Racer was launched in 2020 as a way of bringing multi-disciplinary minds together to collaborate to come up with innovative solutions to real-life problems and give students the opportunity to experience things that they may encounter if they worked at Siemens.
“We were extremely impressed with all 50 of the participants and the outstanding ideas they came up with to respond to the task of innovating in a new age of connected mobility that allows people to move more intelligently and sustainably.”
“All the contestants showed exemplary collegiate behaviour and cooperated with their team members in the race to win the top spot. The winners clearly demonstrated superb teamwork and we were particularly impressed with the creation of user stories which meant the needs of passengers were always at the forefront of decision making, leading them to an innovative yet realistic solution that worked for everyone. Their wildcard proposition of a train/pod solution captivated all of the judges.”
For details on all Siemens’ early careers opportunities including internships, apprenticeships and graduate schemes visit www.siemens.co.uk/earlycareers