A Centralian method for innovation
The Centrale Lyon Innovation Camp is an educational event organized for the past seven years for first-year generalist engineering students. This event aims to help them discover collaborative work while stimulating their capacity for innovation through several stages.
After learning about the various topics on offer, the students begin an exploration phase. This essential stage enables them to map out the topic in a structured way and enrich their thinking using the C-K method, which encourages the emergence of new, innovative ideas. At the end of the day, the engineering students must present, argue for and select the most relevant solution for the topic at hand.
The projects are then further developed and finalized before being assessed by the sponsors according to four criteria: originality, feasibility, development potential and robustness of the proposed solution. Finally, a prize is awarded to the two projects that have most convinced both students, partners and teachers.
Five concrete challenges
Five partner companies and local authorities joined forces with the École for this latest edition. HCL, Safran, TSO Caténaires, CIRLY and the Police Scientifique provided the engineering students with problems directly stemming from their activities and their need for scientific development.
- HCL CO'Lab 3D: Recycling PLA 3D printing residues in hospitals
- Safran: Designing intelligent and serviced interiors: towards sustainable, modular and monetizable solutions
- TSO Caténaires: Securing railway worksites
- CIRLY: Neo & Trinity electronics, on rapid prototyping of electronic boards
- Police Scientifique (SNPS): How to identify data of interest for investigation among all the data in digital media like cell phones or computers
Spotlight on our two favourites
At the end of several days of work and reflection, two projects particularly stood out to the jury.
The first group focused on the "HCL CO'Lab 3D" topic, centered on the local recycling of PLA (polylactic acid) 3D printing residues. Their approach was to design a short-circuit recycling cycle, within the HCL itself or in partnership with local players, in order to reduce the environmental footprint while optimizing available resources. The students explored several avenues, putting aside the revalorization of PLA into new filaments through the use of shredders and extruders, as this could hardly be deployed within the HCL. They investigated the possibility of relying on external industrial recycling channels. All in a logic frugal, sustainable and adapted to hospital constraints. The winning team finally proposed a project integrating a strong social dimension by imagining the reuse of recycled filaments to create therapeutic games for hospitalized children.
Congratulations to the students: Maëlys Brûlard, Luiza De Oliveira Coelho, Laëtitia De Pommereau, Marie Dupont, Antoine Fret, Célia Garreau, Sara Martinez Fuster, Diane Meauze, Zoe Menard, Adélie Poirier, Manola Rainjonneau, Léonie Rollin.
The second group rewarded focused its work on the subject proposed by the Forensic Police around a technological innovation project at the service of forensic analysis. The aim: to help analysts to isolate data relevant to the investigation within the many files present on digital media (phones, tablets, computers), in order to reduce analysis time and enhance operational responsiveness.
Congratulations to the students: Alexandre Ansart, Yassine Bahmad, Victor Ernoult, Simon Funk, Charles Hamelin, Malo Heimberger, Taha Marif, Noel-Marie N'Dri, Alexandre Pichoud, Adel Sardi, Hugo Tajan Beillot, Arthur Vuillemin.
The CLIC approach illustrates the richness of collaborations between socio-economic actors, where the technical skills and creativity of engineering students enable the emergence of innovative, pragmatic and responsible solutions, serving societal challenges.
Would you like to challenge your engineering students?
Centrale Lyon students are mobilized several times a year during their training to find solutions to the needs of companies or public players.
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