- The first edition of the Challenge attracted almost 5,000 applications and 850 projects submitted from 8 geographies(Germany, Benelux, France, India, Italy, Poland, Norway and Spain).
- Responsible innovation was given pride of place, with projects using AI to make a positive impact on biodiversity, health and the environment.
- Communicating Bees (France) won 1st prize for its AI solution for mapping beehives, while the TopNotchWarsawMeshAI project (Poland), an AI platform facilitating access to healthcare, received the Solidarity Award.
From left to right, a jury composed of : Louis-Maxime NEGRE, Sopra Steria Human Resources Director; Rocío LOPEZ VALLADOLID, CIO ING Spain &Portugal - the teamCommunicating Bees : Guillaume BONNIER, Margaux LAMY, Etienne JAMETON, Timothée CRONIER- ; Yves NICOLAS, AI group Program Director - Deputy Group CTO, Sopra Steria ; Alberto Carlos Alonso TEMPRADO, Head of Innovation at Iberpay ; Axelle LEMAIRE, Director of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainable Development at Sopra Steria ; Toni Penalver GRAU, CEO of Sopra Steria Spain.
Paris, 11 March 2025 - Sopra Steria, a major player in European technology, is proud to announce the winners of the world final of the Sopra Steria International Student Challenge. For this first edition, the first title was awarded to Communicating Bees, a solution developed by French students to map beehives using artificial intelligence. India came second with Terra Tide, a heatwave prediction platform, followed by Italy with ReViva, an application to support patient rehabilitation. This event demonstrates Sopra Steria's commitment to supporting young talent and responsible innovation.
After several months of competition and a rigorous selection process involving more than 5,000 participants and 850 projects from 8 countries (Germany, Benelux, France, India, Italy, Poland, Norway and Spain), the national finalists competed in the grand final in Madrid on 6 March 2025. The challenge strengthened the links between the company and the students, offering them not only a platform for expressing their creativity, but above all personalised support. The teams selected benefited from two coaching sessions provided by our employees who are experts in AI, data and business to help them refine their projects. The national finalists were then guided by Sopra Steria's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) experts to incorporate solidarity and inclusion criteria into their project.
Through this international competition, Sopra Steria is reaffirming its commitment to responsible AI and encouraging young talent to design technological solutions with a positive impact. "We are proud to see the emergence of concrete and innovative solutions from the new generation thanks to our International Student Challenge. Projects such as Communicating Bees are a perfect illustration of this dynamic: by combining technology and ecological commitment, these students are demonstrating that artificial intelligence, used properly, can have a positive impact on our environment and our society," explains Louis-Maxime Nègre, Human Resources Director at Sopra Steria.
2025 Awards: responsible innovation takes centre stage
At the international final held in Madrid on 6 March 2025, a jury of innovation experts awarded prizes to four exemplary projects:
- 1st Prize - Communicating Bees (France)
- First prize goes to an innovative solution for mapping and monitoring beehives using artificial intelligence, to improve biodiversity and optimise beekeepers' performance.
- By: Guillaume BONNIER, Margaux LAMY, Etienne JAMETON, Timothée CRONIER
- Reward: €10,000; training in AI and ethics from the Sopra Steria Academy; 1 year of coaching from a Sopra Steria expert.
- 2nd Prize - Terra Tide (India)
- The second prize went to a platform that uses AI to predict heatwaves a week in advance and offers personalised health and prevention recommendations.
- By: Tikkisetti Sri Dhruti, Kollipara Monisha, Yadlapalli Geethika Choudhary, Yerabolu Cherith Reddy
- Reward: €5,000; training in AI and ethics from the Sopra Steria Academy; 1 year of coaching from a Sopra Steria expert.
- 3rd Prize - ReViva (Italy)
- Third prize went to an AI-powered rehabilitation application. This solution provides personalised support for patients and remote supervision for healthcare professionals.
- By: Sofia Cazzola, Valentina Shvetsova, Alisa Kozlova, Arseniy Kirykouski
- Reward: €2,500; training in AI and ethics from the Sopra Steria Academy; 1 year of coaching from a Sopra Steria expert.
A solidarity prize with a social impact
The final highlighted also a remarkable initiative in the form of the Solidarity Award. This distinction was awarded to the Polish project TopNotchWarsawMeshAI, a platform that facilitates access to psychological care thanks to artificial intelligence. Developed by Bartłomiej Sadlej, Paweł Narkiewicz, Tomasz Nocoń, Jakub Kozieł, this solution seeks to make consultations more accessible, while lightening the workload for therapists. The team was awarded a €10,000 prize split between the winning team and an association selected in collaboration with Sopra Steria's CSR experts during the coaching phase.
The project has chosen to support the foundation Fkropka, which works discreetly but effectively to combat the isolation of people experiencing mental health crises. Through its day-to-day activities, the foundation works to deconstruct prejudice and offer support to people experiencing psychological difficulties.