Belgian enterprise students bring ‘EasyDriving’ with innovative new product

 Young entrepreneurs from across Europe compete at the 2015 European Enterprise Challenge

Lisbon, Portugal, 4 July 2015 - University ‘Start Up Programme’ students from Belgium won the ‘NN Award for Care & Impact” at the 2015 European Enterprise Challenge. Competing against 23 other companies from 16 European countries, BT-ASC won based on their strong ‘Easy-Driving’ business plan and embracement of NN’s “care and impact” criteria. The winning team seeks to create ‘EasyDriving’ for citizens across Europe by filling potholes with a revolutionary product. The solution would be able to withstand 2 winters, applicable immediately, or as soon as the pothole is detected, and regardless of weather conditions.

The students shared that “Caring for citizens is one of the most important issues for companies today, and for engineers, such as ourselves, mixing technology, people and the environment is a relatively new challenge. We would like to thank our professors from the University of Condorcet for teaching us that we could change the world!”

On 2-4 July, over 90 students were welcomed to compete at the European-level in Lisbon, Portugal after participating in a year-long Start Up Programme and qualifying at the national-level.

In the last 12 years, more than 115,000 students across Europe have participated in the Start Up Programme.  A JA Europe initiative, the programme annually engages over 14,000 University students from 300 schools, giving them the opportunity to experience running a business from top to bottom.

NN’s ‘Care & Impact Award’ recognises the start-up that demonstrates both ‘care’ for society, customers and entrepreneurship, and ‘impact’ through innovation, implementation and roll-out, and the empowerment of people and communities.

"With the NN Care & Impact award we aim to encourage students to embrace social innovation and entrepreneurship to help tackle societal challenges. We believe that by doing so they will gain important skills required in any job or business. NN's international partnership with Junior Achievement fits perfectly with the goal of NN Future Matters, our corporate citizenship programme, aimed at helping people improve their financial well-being. As part of this programme, we offer our talent, expertise and resources to help provide young people the relevant skills to create economic opportunities, overcome adversity and reach their dreams." – Dorothee van Vredenburch, Management Board Member NN Group  

The partnership seeks to engage young visionaries to create socially aware, creative and dynamic start-ups. By supporting social entrepreneurs with their missions of positive impact, NN and JA Europe aim to encourage students to own their futures.

“Our Start Up Programme propels students forward by growing their self-confidence and business acumen, empowering them to turn ideas into action. Together with the support of our partners and business volunteers, we are able to connect universities and the entrepreneurial ecosystem, effectively filling the skills gap often faced by European youth today.” – Caroline Jenner, CEO for JA Europe