Students take on Safran’s Black-Out Challenge
Every year for the past three years, Safran Electronics & Defense has organized the Black-Out Challenge, a major student innovation competition designed to raise awareness among future graduates of all backgrounds about the company’s key business areas: aerospace, defense, cybersecurity, environment, etc. All these sectors are particularly well suited to inventive and disruptive projects!
From science-fiction to innovation
The Black-Out Challenge is first a disaster scenario linked to humanity’s dependence on technology: with each new edition, the situation becomes more and more complex! Following a solar flare, Humanity has become blind and dependent. To ensure their survival and assist them in their daily lives, humans have developed fleets of robots and autonomous connect systems. Nevertheless, these robots have become the target of cybercriminals who threaten the future of Humanity…
For the 2022 edition, 325 students of 16 nationalities, from 68 different schools and universities, took up the Black-Out Challenge!
The 130 teams had six months to imagine an innovative defense strategy for these fleets of robots. Of all the scenarios considered, five of them went to the Grand Final, where they had to pitch their projects to a jury made up of the Safran Electronics & Defense Executive Committee and representatives of the French National Gendarmerie Command in Cyberspace (COMCYBERGEND).
Algorithmic Law, Block Chain and 3D printing: three projects selected to save humanity.
At the end of the final pitch, three very different projects were selected:
- First place went to the team from the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, composed of Dominika Stodolna, Chloé Dumont, Maxime Dufour and Flavie Walter. This team of lawyers, specialized in algorithmic law and data governance, presented a global consulting solution, combining a technical approach with an ethical one, by proposing in particular the implementation of a “Human Guarantee College that reintroduces the human element into technology”.
- Second place went to Pierre-Henry Poret and Julien Huynh, students at the Paris Air and Space Engeneering School (IPSA). Their proposal: to use Block Chain technology to redesign the architecture of all AI (Artificial Intelligence).
- Finally, a team from INP Grenoble (ENSE3), composed of Thomas Croisette, Guillaume Ferrand, Amine Mjaidila, Guillaume Jaffre and Gabriel Canal, completed the podium. This team convinced the jury by proposing a solution for multi-layer protection of systems via 3D printing structures.
After them, two teams from Central Supélec completed the Top 5 of BOC#3.
Congratulations to all!
... a unique networking opportunity
In addition to stimulating innovation, the Black-Out Challenge is also a unique opportunity for students to get to know Safran and discover the Group. Participants were given a tour of the Massy Research and Development site, a cybersecurity awareness course, and the opportunity to talk with a number of Safran and COMCYBERGEND experts. This was an opportunity to discover a wide range of professions related to their respective training, and to stand out from the crowd because of their ingenuity and interpersonal skills.
For Safran, thanks to the mentoring provided by the HR teams throughout the project, which was highly appreciated by the participants, this is an opportunity to build up a pool of passionate talents and to recruit promising young graduates with technical profiles... but not only!
See you in a few months for the fourth edition of the Black-Out Challenge!
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