Indra announces inter-university Future Minds winners

MANILA, Philippines - Indra, a leading IT solutions and services provider in the country and in Southeast Asia, recently announced the students from the two universities who will compete in its Future Minds international competition after topping the inter-university contest held recently in its office at the Rockwell Business Center in Ortigas, Pasig City.

Students from the University of the Philippines Diliman (UP) and De La Salle University (DLSU) bested the other students from Ateneo de Manila University, Mapua Institute of Technology, and University of Sto. Tomas.

Future Minds is an international university competition that provides a venue for undergraduates to demonstrate their talent and skills in managing solutions based on engagements of Indra, a global technology and consultancy company with headquarters in Spain, with its stakeholders.

Indra is one of the world’s largest consultancy and technology multinationals, a leader in Europe and Latin America and is expanding in other emerging economies. Innovation is the cornerstone of its business, which is highly focused on the customer and on sustainability.

During the inter-university competition, the students presented a solution to an “enigma” (challenge or problem) based on Indra’s engagements with Maynilad Water Services Inc., the water and wastewater concessionaire for the West Zone of the Greater Manila Area, serving over eight million customers. Maynilad is one of Indra’s longest-standing and most important clients, with several ongoing projects.

The two teams were chosen based on how their solution adheres to the four core values of Indra — rigor, determination, originality and sensitivity.

The two Philippine teams will compete with students from other countries in the international competition.

The DLSU team is composed of Justin Contreras, a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering student; John Steven Lee, who is taking up Industrial Management Engineering with a minor in Service Management; and Timothy Fernando, a BS Manufacturing Engineering Management student with specialization in mechatronics and robotics engineering. It presented “Project Breakwater: Preventive, Proactive, Progressive.”

The project is entitled “Breakwater” as it looks at the main problem of clogged drainages as an opportunity toward sustainability. It is divided into five key areas, divided according to the main issue it addresses.

First, the Automatic Trash Management Machine is a trash depository machine that will be installed at strategic locations to divert waste from drainages. Second, Trash to Treasure is a job-generation and value-creation project where informal settlers are hired to segregate waste which can then be used for producing products, composting, recycling or reselling.

Third, the Detachable Waste Filtration System is a filtration system that will be installed at the openings of drainages to prevent solid waste from entering these drainages. There will be sensors to notify the management through signals that the filter will soon be full. The contents will easily be collected, as the system is detachable.

Fourth, the Drainage Obstruction Sensor refers to sensors that will be installed in drainages to measure reflected light and flow rate. Information on the light and flow will indicate the degree of obstruction or clogging, which can signal the management to send a team to fix the problem.

And lastly, SWIFT, or Solid Waste Information Feedback Technology, is a mobile application that converts drainage information into useful information for motorists such as flood level forecasts and actual flood levels for swift transportation around the city.

On the other hand, the UP team — composed of Everett Lucien Antoine Ubiadas, a BS in Industrial Engineering student; Arfiel Lorenz Herbon, a BS ECE student; and Joshua Rex Bataller, a BS in Computer Engineering student — presented Project Vortex, a technological solution to identify and remove clogs from Maynilad’s combined sewer system, as well as maintain these pipes clean and garbage-free.

The project also features an effective monitoring system, which can help people prepare for worst-case scenarios.

For its first solution, the UP team came up with an acoustic sensing technology that uses a transmitter placed inside the drainage or sewer pipe that should detect how much trash is present inside the pipe and its accurate location.

The UP team also came up with campaign “#DontMakeKalat” through social networking sites. This targets teenagers and young adults as it provides lessons on proper waste management.

The group also came up with a monitoring system wherein CCTV cameras will be installed in selected areas to check the current condition of the traffic as well as the flood situation. Also, those who will violate the anti-littering law could also be detected.

The team’s fourth project was the “Pipe Shield” that uses tall, removable plastic screens at pipeline entrances in drainages that are connected to combined sewer overflow units for trash filtering. This project aims to trap all solid waste inside the catch basins to make them easier to remove.

The last project it came up was the Flood Warning System, where the current flood level can be calculated using the trash content of the basins from the level sensors, the rainfall data, and the area contour.

The Philippines first joined the competition during the second edition in 2012, with UP Diliman students Maria Katrina Volante, Benedict Ivan Andrade and Erwin Soleta, representing the country.

The Philippine team qualified for the final phase and went to Spain to compete against three other universities, eventually winning the whole competition.

For the 2013 Future Minds, UP students John Arden Orata, Jhoanne Clarize Monta and Paolo Martin Santos won second place in the international competition.

The Indra Future Minds competition aims to engage the best talent around the world to innovate and change the world with the help of new technologies. Winners of the competition will be given the opportunity to experience working with Indra.