Grundfos Challenge winners

The winners of the prize of DKK 75,000 for the economics students were a team of Anne Høj Pedersen, Martin Klint Hansen and Thomas Ommen from University of Aarhus, Aarhus School of Business. The winners of the corresponding prize for the engineering students were a team of Karin Dooleweerdt, Jonas Ørbæk Hansen and Niels Vinther Voight from University of Aarhus.

The educational institutions of both winning teams had a trophy and a DKK 50,000 Grundfos grant to be awarded to a purpose of their choice.

A special innovation prize of DKK 15,000 and the opportunity to participate in Tall Ships’ Race 2007 was extraordinarily won by two teams: Thomas Nylandsted Gross, Søren Buchholtz Nielsen and Line Skov Meyerhoff from University of Southern Denmark and Louise Pedersen, Peter Bastian and Martin Wagner Larsen from Roskilde University.

”It has been most exciting and inspiring to follow how the students with lots of energy and under great pressure of time have been able to obtain understanding of both our products and our business”, Carsten Bjerg, Group President, says.

Deadline of the written part of the assignment was Thursday afternoon at 15.00. The students had hardly wiped the sweat of their foreheads before Jens Gaardbo, former news journalist at Danish tv2, turned up with inspiration and good advices so they could present their ideas to the assessment panels in the best possible way. Friday it was time to face the panel members, among others Karin Verland, Managing Director of Pfizer Denmark, Søren Stjernqvist, Managing Director of Danish Technological Institute, Jesper Kunde, Managing Director of Kunde & Co., and Niels Due Jensen, Grundfos Chairman of the Board.

It is the second year in succession that Grundfos has invited the students to a week’s innovation, communication, talent, and teamwork competition. The pump business had also this year made a professional network and its education centre, The Poul Due Jensen Academy – available to the students. The students had from Monday morning till Thursday afternoon to work towards a solution of one of the big challenges of our time – innovative solutions of future water supply problems.