The City’ZEN Challenge, international and inter-school innovation competition, gives students in the IT field the opportunity to develop digital solutions that meet the major societal challenges of today and tomorrow.

The awards ceremony for the 5th edition of the City’ZEN Challenge entitled “Beyond Covid, Rebooting Society!” took place on Wednesday, 30 June 2021, at the Berger-Levrault headquarters in Boulogne-Billancourt.

For this 5th edition, students from our partner-schools carried out their own projects (Competition Track 1) or projects initiated by the employees and clients of Berger-Levrault (Competition Track 2).

The City’ZEN Challenge 2021 by the numbers

  • 558 students mobilized
  • 48 projects incubated
  • 8 finalists for Competition Track 1
  • 3 winning projects for Competition Track 1
  • 4 finalists for Competition Track 2
  • 2 winning projects for Competition Track 2

The finalist-teams defended their projects in front of a jury composed of the Executive Committee members of Berger-Levrault. They had 25 minutes to present their projects, show their promotional videos and make a demonstration of their prototypes.

The five winning teams shared a total purse of €25,000 in prize money for their projects:

Laureates of Competition Track 1

  • 1st place: BeneVID (Simplon Occitanie)

The COVID pandemic has led to a situation of prolonged isolation for millions of people, often with very negative impacts in terms of psychological, emotional and even economic well-being.

BeneVID is an application that aims to help this population by facilitating their daily lives by connecting them with volunteers who will provide them with a variety of essential services and support.

BeneVID, laureate of the City'ZEN Challenge Edition 5
  • 2nd place: Donate Life (ISMO, Morocco)

Strict closures and other measures put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have caused an acute shortage of blood banks in our country. Donate Life is a mobile application that simplifies the blood donation process by connecting blood donation centers with donors to maintain a stable and sufficient blood supply and, in turn, save lives.

DonateLife, laureate of the City'ZEN Challenge Edition 5
  • 3rd place: VegeGreen (ESILV)

VegeGreen is a mobile application that promotes the connection between actors who produce local products (small producers, farms, people with a vegetable garden…) and potential buyers of these products (individuals). The goal is to encourage the local economy, social solidarity and mutual aid.

VegeGreen, laureate of the City'ZEN Challenge Edition 5

Laureates of Competition Track 2

  • 1st place: employee-initiated projects

Take a Seat (EPITECH Toulouse)

The COVID pandemic has generated one of the most important transformations in history in terms of the way we work (working from home, hybrid working…).  Take a Seat is a digital platform that will, on one hand, allow public institutions to offer their unused or under-used workspaces for the public interest and, on the other hand, enable those in need to search, identify and book workspaces easily.

Take a seat, laureate of the City'ZEN Challenge Edition 5
  • 1st place: client-initiated projects

Click & Treat (ECE Lyon)

With the Click & Treat mobile application, doctors can fill, renew and modify prescriptions for their patients in facilities which care for the elderly (retirement homes, etc.). The app displays new prescriptions in PDF format and the doctor validates it with a single click.

Click & Treat, laureate of the City'ZEN Challenge Edition 5

A big thank you to all the participating teams for their work and their involvement, and congratulations to the big winners of the 5th edition.