2015/04/13

Team “The Sharp Shepards” from Belgium triumphs at “Henkel Innovation Challenge”

“Persil Energy Patch”: An innovative product for 2050

Vienna – 23 student teams from 28 participating countries took part in the international final of the “Henkel Innovation Challenge” from April 8-10 in Vienna. During the three-day competition, the student competitors presented their innovative concepts for 2050. The jury of Henkel managers chose the Belgian team “The Sharp Shepards” as its winner. Jérémy Denisty, 23, and Marine Van Halle, 20, students at the Université Catholique de Louvain, won this year’s “Henkel Innovation Challenge.” The team’s “Persil Energy Patch” product was judged superior to the product proposals of their international competition at the final.

“We feel great about the win. The level of the competition was really high and the teams were top notch,” said Denisty from the winning team. Winner Marine Van Halle had advice for future HIC participants, remarking, “I think that the most important thing is to feel passionate about what you are doing. If you don’t feel passionate, you won’t work enough on your product.” The winners receive an around-the-world-ticket with a value of 10,000 euros and, along with the second and third place teams, will have the opportunity to meet Henkel CEO Kasper Rorsted in person. 

The winning team’s product idea, “the Persil Energy Patch” – a revolutionary cleaning technology that improves Persil’s brightness and cleaning results while converting energy generated by the body’s movements into electric power – won the jury over. Teams Darmalite from the Philippines, and Team Cyanofix from Italy came in second and third place respectively. Second prize went to Marco del Valle and Christine Darla Bautista from the University of the Philippines and their product idea “Buchstrahl.” Their vision: a coating that protects surfaces and neutralizes pollutants while harnessing solar energy. The Italian team of Tommaso Bressa and Iva Mladenovic of Bocconi University placed third. Their product is a medical superglue that can be used as a flexible adhesive to keep tissues together after surgeries or cuts.

About “Henkel Innovation Challenge”

This year, the competition attracted students from various disciplines from all over the world, with proposals submitted by two-person teams from 28 countries, including Algeria and Qatar, which participated for the first time. The students’ challenge was to create an innovative and sustainable product or technology for a Henkel brand, based on the anticipated trends and market needs in 2050. 

The “Henkel Innovation Challenge” took place for the 8th time this year. In the last eight years, 35,000 students worldwide have participated in the competition. “The Henkel Innovation Challenge is a tremendous opportunity for us to get in touch with top international talents and to introduce Henkel as a potential employer,” said Dr. Lena Christiaans, Head of Employer Branding at Henkel. 

Henkel has a workforce of nearly 50,000 people from more than 120 nations in over 75 countries worldwide. Every year more than 1,500 students across the world complete an internship at Henkel.

Henkel operates worldwide with leading brands and technologies in three business areas: 
Laundry & Home Care, Beauty Care and Adhesive Technologies. Founded in 1876, Henkel holds globally leading market positions both in the consumer and industrial businesses with well-known brands such as Persil, Schwarzkopf and Loctite. Henkel employs almost 50,000 people and reported sales of 16.4 billion euros and adjusted operating profit of 2.6 billion euros in fiscal 2014. Henkel’s preferred shares are listed in the German stock index DAX.

Photo material is available at http://www.henkel.com/press
	
Contact	Rabea Möllers	Hanna Philipps
Phone	+49 211 797-6976	+49 211 797-3626
Fax	+49 211 798-4040	+49 211 797-4040
E-mail	rabea.moellers@henkel.com	hanna.philipps@henkel.com

Henkel AG & Co. KGaA