The SZEnergy Team, the student competition team of Széchenyi István University, finished in the 18th place worldwide and in the 6th place in Europe, behind the universities of Los Angeles, Munich and Turin, which became the second best in another category in the continent. The success shows how important a practice-leading institution is in practice-oriented training and talent support.
The Shell Eco-marathon is the world’s largest fuel economy competition announced to students, in which the team of Széchenyi István University, SZEnergy, also competes regularly. Due to the epidemic situation, the races were held online this year with a vehicle model and sensor set provided to all entrants, and had to complete the tasks in a virtual simulation environment. SZEnergy achieved an excellent result: they finished in the 18th place worldwide and in the 6th place in Europe, ahead of the Technical Universities of Munich and Turin, among others, and the University of California, Los Angeles. The 2nd place in the “data and telemetry” competition in Europe is at least as successful, with which the team from Győr won the special prize “Runner-up”. Here, the task was to produce a document that included the vehicle’s internal monitoring, data collection, and evaluation system.
Dr. Professor József Bokor, President of the Vehicle Industry Research Center of Széchenyi István University and Balázs Róbert Simon , Member of Parliament, personally congratulated to the SZEnergy team on their unique achievement.
“This success is important because today research on autonomous vehicles receives a lot of attention and support in Hungary. National laboratories have been established, and one of the partners of the National Laboratory of Autonomous Systems is the Széchenyi István University, which is able to play a remarkable leading role in certain fields. The tasks that SZEnergy had to solve in this competition are a central part of the research everywhere ”
– emphasized prof. dr. József Bokor. The members of student teams could be the professionals of the future in industry, university education and research.
Next to the congratulation of Balázs Róbert Simon, he drew attention to the fact that in the last decade and a half Győr has been one of, if not the most dynamically developing universities in the country, as indicated by the construction of new dormitory wings, laboratory and other infrastructure developments, and the implementation of the Technology and Innovation Park will further strengthen it in the near future.
“Of course, all this must be filled with quality content, which requires educators, researchers and talented students with the right knowledge.”
– he said, emphasizing that SZEnergy also put Munich, which is one of the 50 best universities in the world, behind him in this competition.
Máté Miklós, the head of SZEnergy, thanked dr. Professor József Bokor and Balázs Róbert Simon for the words of appreciation, the management and mentors of the Vehicle Industry Research Center – Péter Kőrös, Zoltán Pusztai and Rudolf Krecht – for their professional advice, and Széchenyi István University and their sponsors for the support of the team.
“I am confident that the results of the competitions will give new flow to the next developments”
– He said.
SZEnergy was also congratulated by Balázs Weingartner, President and CEO of the HUMDA Hungarian Motorsport Development Agency, recently interpreting the recognition of László Palkovics, Minister of Innovation and Technology. In his letter he wrote:
“The performance of the SZEnergy Team is value-creating and will provide a solid foundation for team members in a digital-dominated future. There are long-term benefits to working in parallel with university studies, where they can gain professional experience and build useful international relationships. ”
