Juan Pendas Arévalo and Constantino Rivera Palacios, Industrial Electronic Engineering students at the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM), have won the second edition of the Gran Desafío entrepreneurship program. Their project, called Drone Firefighter, is a data collection and analysis network for fire prevention, by implementing drones. In addition to the winning prize, two accésits were awarded for the Green Data and Diogenera projects.
The final phase was held on Friday, after the launch of the Gran Desafío entrepreneurship program, jointly promoted by the University of Castilla-La Mancha, the Campollano Business Association (ADECA), and the Albacete City Council. Four teams participated, and the group formed by UCLM students Juan Pendas Arévalo and Constantino Rivera Palacios won first place.
By automatically collecting key parameters and applying a prediction algorithm, «it is possible to create a network to protect natural and forest environments from the devastating effects of forest fires», as indicated by the winners, who thanked all the tutors and mentors who helped them develop this idea, which took over ten months to complete. «Our first objective is to prevent the media from ever having to report on forest fires again», they stated.
Currently, the project is being developed through entrepreneurship programs, and has the support of the Albacete School of Industrial Engineers. The winning team received a 1,000 euro check, while two accésits worth 750 euros each were awarded for the high quality of the works, as reported by UCLM.
One accésit was awarded to Green Data, a technological product aimed at helping small farmers by bringing technology closer to people. The team consists of students from the Leonardo da Vinci High School in Albacete: Jesús Escudero Fernández, Carmelo Márquez López, and Enrique Martínez Moreno.
The second accésit was awarded to the Diogenera project, an application that would act as an intermediary between different industries in the region, with the aim of connecting companies whose waste could be a relevant raw material in another sector. The team consists of UCLM students Mihaela Madalina Tomescu, Rubén Martínez Sotoca, and José Daniel Andrés Lerma, from the degrees in Biotechnology, Computer Science, and the Master’s in Marketing and Business Strategy, respectively.
The event was attended by Adeca President Santos Prieto, Amelia Fernández, a member of the association’s Board of Directors, UCLM’s Vice-Rector and Academic Director of Innovation, Employment and Entrepreneurship, Ángela González and Rosario Pérez, respectively, and the Councilor for Equality, Manuel Martínez. All of them congratulated the winners and participants and thanked the work and collaboration of all parties involved, as well as the program’s mentor team.
The Vice-Rector thanked the participants for recognizing the work of the teachers who have been training them in their idea. Ángela González, on the other hand, highlighted the work of the Academic Director, Rosario Pérez, and trainer Jesús Andicoberry. UCLM, as the Vice-Rector stated, is one of the universities that are concerned with generating the entrepreneurial spirit among its students. «To undertake, you need to be special and I think all the participants are.»
For her part, Amelia Fernández emphasized the collaborative aspect of this project, which is part of the Adeca’s «Por una empresa Igual» campaign, as it aims to promote entrepreneurship and sustainable development goals, «especially to identify them because they are like our hallmark in a way.»
«When you submit to their evaluation, you become aware that you are doing quite well», she stated. The Gran Desafío initiative aims to promote equality in companies, sustainable development goals, awaken the entrepreneurial spirit among young people, and familiarize them with new ways of working.
