- Philippine university students beat out the participants from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid's School of Telecommunications, who came in second, in the final phase that took place at Indra's headquarters in Madrid
- The teams from the Sao Paulo Faculty of Technology and the UPM's School of Industrial Engineers shared third place
- The winners will join an Indra office in the country they choose, with the possibility of developing a global profile, in line with the objectives of this contest based on multiculturalism and new technologies
The three students from the University of the Philippines Diliman have won the second edition of the Indra Future Minds Competition international university contest launched by the IT multinational this past 15 February with the objective of having students from all over the world compete with the challenges that are faced in the current business world, such as globalisation, multiculturalism or collaborative networking. The Philippine participants earned their victory by resolving the final Smart Cities case, based on an actual Indra project for the Barcelona City Government.
Last Thursday, 26 April, the company's Madrid office hosted the final phase of the contest in which the Philippine students beat out the participants from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid's (UPM) School of Telecommunications, who came in second. In the semi-finals, both teams successfully eliminated the students from the Sao Paulo Faculty of Technology (FATEC-SP) and the UPM's School of Industrial Engineers, who also travelled to Indra's headquarters for the competition.
The awards ceremony, which took place late in the afternoon after an intense day of work carried out by the university students, was attended by Josep Ramon Ferrer i Escoda, Director of Strategy of the Barcelona City Government's Instituto Municipal de Informática (IMI, the Municipal IT Institute) and a jury member for the last enigma based on Smart Cities, as well as Tomás Contreras, Indra's Deputy Director General of Human Resources. The other jury members for the final phase included Luis Zamora, Indra's Director of International HR, Carlos Fernández, the company's Director of University Relations, Jordi Marín, Director of the Public Administrations Market in Catalonia, and Manuel Ausaverri, Director of Smart Cities at the IT multinational.
Innovation to change the world
The Director of Strategy at the Barcelona City Government's IMI congratulated the students for their excellent performance and encouraged them to maintain their interest in continuing to innovate and change the world with the help of new technologies. “The Barcelona City Government shares this same objective. Together with other cities and the industry, our aim is to establish the procedures for a smart city along with the guidelines for innovation in this field in order to make our cities more efficient, environmentally friendly and intelligent, while improving the life of citizens,” explained Josep Ramon Ferrer i Escoda.
Tomás Contreras, Indra's Deputy Director General of Human Resources, pointed out that “when the world changes so quickly it is important for the talent and the creative ideas of young people to be integrated in companies and businesses.” “Our main mission is to attract the best talent throughout the world and to offer all new professionals a strong professional career that will allow them to develop their experience in different areas and countries.” He also thanked the students for their participation and efforts, and customers for their involvement in the enigmas as well as for providing interesting projects on which to base those enigmas.
The winners will join Indra
The final prize for the three winning students from the University of the Philippines involves joining the IT multinational at the office chosen by each participant, upon completing their studies. This will provide the students with an international experience from the onset of their professional career, developing the global profile that companies currently look for. The prize also includes initial relocation expenses, additional aid of €600 each month as well as two plane tickets to their home city at the six month and twelve month milestones of their first year.
The second place winners will also receive Indra's commitment to hire them in the country office of their choice (upon completing their studies) as well as the initial relocation expenses.
In addition, all the members of the four teams that reached the final phase will receive an electronic tablet as a gift.
The universities that participated in this second edition of the Indra Future Minds Competition included the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, the Autónoma de Madrid, Carlos III and Universidad Politécnica de Catalunya, from Spain; the Sao Paulo Faculty, from Brazil; the Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, from Argentina; the Universidad Nacional Autónoma, from México; the Universidad de los Andes, from Colombia; the Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, from Peru; the University of the Philippines; and the VSB-Technical University of Ostrava, from the Czech Republic.
Talent management at Indra
As a technological, innovative and global company, with this contest Indra aims to offer students an international experience through virtual work tools.
Recruiting, developing and retaining talent is a fundamental area for Indra´s sustainability, making it a strategic priority. The company has relationships with more than 150 universities and research centres through chairs, agreements and R&D projects, allowing the company to attract professionals and access new technologies. The objective is to become an international reference in terms of the model for university-company technological transfer and collaboration.
Indra's good talent management practices have allowed it to become one of the leading companies in the world in terms of sustainability. The company has renewed its presence in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the sixth straight year.
Indra also has more than ten years of experience in global human capital management projects and Human Resources consultancy. The multinational combines its knowledge of the different areas and years of experience in detection, attraction, assessment models, and traditional talent development with the new tendencies related to managing constantly changing environments and the new knowledge-based society.
Indra is the number one IT multinational in Spain and a leader in Europe and Latin America. It is the second European company in its sector in terms of R&D, with more than €500 million invested in the last three years. Its 2011 revenues were €2.688 billion, and its international activities already represent 50%. The company employs more than 36,000 professionals and has customers in 118 countries.