Daimler and UNESCO Reward the Finalists of the Third Mondialogo Engineering Award

PARIS and STUTTGART, Germany, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --

• 30 international engineering project proposals for poverty reduction, climate change mitigation and the promotion of sustainable development receive Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards in Stuttgart
• Premiere for the Mondialogo Community Award
• Awards in Silver and Bronze for students from the United States
  

On Monday, Daimler and UNESCO presented at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart the Mondialogo Engineering Awards to 30 international teams of young engineers. The awards in Gold, Silver and Bronze were presented for innovative project proposals addressing the reduction of poverty, the promotion of sustainable development as well as climate change mitigation.

The Gold Awards, consisting of prize money of euro 15,000 were presented to eight teams of student engineers from 14 countries. Silver Awards with a prize money of euro 10,000 were presented to twelve teams of student engineers from 18 countries. Five of these Silver Awards were given to students from the US. Ten student teams received Bronze Awards worth euro 5,000. Five of them had US-American team members. The intention of the Initiative is that the funds be used to help initiate or support project implementation.

For the second time, the Mondialogo Engineering Continuation Award worth euro 10,000, for continued project activity from previous Mondialogo Engineering Award winners, was presented to an international student engineers team from Germany and Rwanda. This team won an award in 2007 for the design and construction of a low-cost river bridge, and received a Mondialogo Engineering Continuation Award for the continuation of project activity in the construction of a second bridge. The team members used their prize money to finance the construction of a second bridge in Rwanda and train the local population in maintaining the structure.

This year also witnessed another premiere with the Mondialogo Community Award being presented by Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton for the first time this year. Visitors to the Internet portal (www.mondialogo.org) elected the winner of this public award. This award was presented to an international student team from Peru, Italy and Guinea-Bissau. Al Jazeera anchor Stephen Cole served as Master of Ceremony at the event.

Entries for the award were submitted, short-listed and the winners were selected by an international jury composed of prominent engineers from around the world. Key criteria in the short-listing and jury assessment of the projects focused on project proposal creativity, quality, feasibility in addressing the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and the degree of international student dialogue and cooperation. The intensity of international dialogue and technical exchange between the engineering students played a crucial role in the decision.

Around one third of the finalist team members from 28 countries are women - well over the average of 10-15% of women engineering students in most countries.

Every project team was made up of groups of students from two technical universities or colleges, with one group coming from a developing country and the other from an industrialized nation. The teams had six months in which to devise a solution that will have a direct practical benefit for the population of a developing country. Principal concerns of the Mondialogo Engineering Award are climate protection, eradication of poverty and sustainable development.

Alongside the Mondialogo Engineering Award, the Mondialogo partnership launched by Daimler and UNESCO also consists of the Mondialogo School Contest and an Internet Portal in five languages. The aim is to encourage dialogue between young people of different origins, who work together across continents on a joint project. This cooperation is intended to promote understanding, tolerance and friendship between people with different cultural, religious and linguistic backgrounds.

More information about Mondialogo, the winners of the Engineering Award and the jury members is available at www.mondialogo.org.