Winner Announced for Global Graphene Challenge Competition
Sandvik Coromant is pleased to announce the winner of the Graphene Challenge. The competition, which ran from April to May 2016, invited individuals from around the world to submit ideas for sustainable innovations made from graphene that would revolutionize the modern household.
The winner, Nadia Ayad from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, submitted the idea of using graphene for a filtration device and system for desalinization that would provide drinkable water to households. Her idea would significantly reduce energy costs and strain on current water supplies by recycling water.
As part of her prize, Nadia, a bachelor student in materials engineering at the Military Institute of Engineering (Instituto Militar de Engenharia – IME) will be invited to Sandvik Coromant’s headquarters in Sandviken, Sweden to meet with industry professionals and visit the Graphene Center at Chalmers University.
“I am absolutely thrilled to have been selected as the winner of the Graphene Challenge. I am really fascinated with the study and applications of advanced materials so the opportunity to travel to Sweden to meet with leading researchers is one that I am really looking forward to,” said Nadia Ayad, winner of the Graphene Challenge.
Nadia was chosen from ten top finalists by a distinguished panel of judges including David Goulbourne, Product Unit Manager at Sandvik Coromant; Marco Zwinkels, R&D Director, Technology Platforms at Sandvik Coromant; and Patrik Carlsson, Director for the Graphene Centre at Chalmers University. The top ten submissions were evaluated based on innovation, feasibility and design.
“We are very pleased with the quality of submissions we received from all over the world so it was not easy to select just one winner,” said David Goulbourne. “We were very impressed by how well researched Nadia’s submission was and how well she was able to conceptualize her idea.”
“Graphene is a material with high potential for innovation in many areas,” said Patrik Carlsson. “The Graphene Challenge and the very interesting and wide ranging set of proposals we reviewed is a manifestation of this potential. It is also clear that graphene has the potential for disruptive technologies and innovations that do not fit within the present business models of existing companies. The Challenge was a good way to think outside of these business models.”
The Graphene Challenge competition was launched as part of Sandvik Coromant’s Looking Ahead series, which focuses on future trends and business challenges in the manufacturing industry. The latest Looking Ahead film focused on “tomorrow’s materials” such as graphene. Graphene is one material that may completely revolutionize industrial design. The competition was a way for Sandvik Coromant to inspire the next generation of engineers by encouraging them to explore these new industry trends through their imagination and creativity.
About Sandvik Coromant
Part of global industrial engineering group Sandvik, Sandvik Coromant is at the forefront of manufacturing tools, machining solutions and knowledge that drive industry standards and innovations demanded by the metalworking industry now and into the next industrial era. Educational support, extensive R&D investment and strong customer partnerships ensure the development of machining technologies that change, lead and drive the future of manufacturing. Sandvik Coromant owns over 3100 patents worldwide, employs over 8,500 staff, and is represented in 150 countries.
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