STUTTGART, Germany and PARIS, May 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- With immediate effect, trainee engineers from universities can apply for the largest worldwide engineering contest, the Mondialogo Engineering Award. Prospective participants have until 31 October 2008 to register at www.mondialogo.org. The award carries prize money totalling 300,000 euros. Through their joint initiative Daimler and UNESCO are aiming to promote intercultural dialogue among students and the exchange of knowledge between higher education establishments. As a consequence of its great international acclaim, the Mondialogo Engineering Award has been dubbed the "Engineer's Oscar".
For the Mondialogo Engineering Award, students from industrial and developing countries are called on to form International Project Teams in order to find ideas for sustainable solutions to problems in developing countries. The focus here should be on technical improvements in the fields of environmental protection, energy and water supply, use of natural resources and waste management. Also required are innovative concepts in medical care, nutrition, housing, hygiene, disaster protection, mobility and communication. The eradication of poverty, promotion of sustainable development and responding to climate change are key concerns of the Mondialogo Engineering Award.
Eligible to apply for the Mondialogo Engineering Award are project teams composed of student groups from two higher education establishments, whereby one group should come from an industrialized country and the other from a developing country. The Mondialogo Internet Portal www.mondialogo.org acts as a contact centre for this purpose and later as a virtual office. After the closing date for registration, the engineering teams have six months to work out their project ideas. An international jury then decides on how the prizes are to be awarded, and these will be presented as part of a festive ceremony in 2009. Key factors in the assessment are sustainability, scientific quality and feasibility of the project proposals as well as the intensity of intercultural cooperation between the project groups.
Alongside the Mondialogo Engineering Award, the initiative launched by Daimler and UNESCO in 2003 also consists of the Mondialogo School Contest and the Mondialogo Internet Portal in five languages. The aim is to encourage dialogue between people of different cultural origins, who work together across continents on a joint project. This cooperation is intended to develop understanding, tolerance and friendship between people with different cultural, religious and linguistic backgrounds.
Daimler AG was presented with the international "Business Award 2007" for the best social commitment in Europe. Previous honours received by the Mondialogo initiators include the "Freiheit und Verantwortung" (Freedom and Responsibility) Award and the "Clarion Award" from the International Visual Communication Association (IVCA) in London. The jury for the latter award saw Mondialogo as rendering an outstanding contribution to the debate on ethical values and sustainable development. Ambassadors of the Mondialogo Initiative include the Brazilian author Paulo Coelho and Swedish writer Henning Mankell.
Further information available at www.mondialogo.org