Press release

THE BOUYGUES CONSTRUCTION CHALLENGE FOCUSES 
ON INNOVATION AND ECO-CONNECTED NEIGHBOURHOODS 

25-06-2014

For the 18th Bouygues Construction Challenge, the annual competition for students, teams are being asked to innovate. In previous years, competitors were asked to reply to a call for tenders inspired by key projects in the Group’s portfolio, such as the Nîmes-Montpellier bypass and the Beaugrenelle shopping centre. This year, though, they will have to devise a global offer for a neighbourhood, ensuring that innovation and ICT (information and communications technologies) are central to their thinking. They will imagine an eco-connected, community-minded neighbourhood that will meet the needs of a local authority wanting to make itself more attractive to citizens, businesses and traders.
 
Jean-Manuel Soussan, HR Director of Bouygues Construction, said: “Bouygues Construction sees innovation as a key driver of its development strategy and is constantly thinking about the buildings and neighbourhoods of tomorrow. Our approach is based on focusing our attention on the needs of our customers and of the users of our buildings and structures. We therefore expect the students to show a high capacity for innovation and for projecting themselves into the future, incorporating the opportunities that are already being offered by new technologies.”
 
The Bouygues Construction Challenge, which was the first business game to be devised in the construction sector, is intended for final-year students at engineering, business, management and architecture schools and at universities. The closing date for applications, which are invited exclusively on the Studyka website, is October 5. A two-phase selection process will then take place prior to the final, which will take place over 48 hours from November 26 to 28.
 
Teams will combine students from a variety of backgrounds to enable the participants to devise comprehensive proposals, which they will present to a jury of professionals. At the conclusion of the marathon competition, the participants will be assessed for their team spirit, their persuasiveness, their ingenuity and their ability to organise themselves for meeting this challenge.
 
The winning team will fly to Asia to visit a highly connected metropolis.
 
Created in 1997 to bring students into closer contact with the professional world, the Bouygues Construction Challenge helps students to find out more about the diversity of professions in the construction sector and related service industries. It also serves as a recruitment tool: when the competition is over, the most outstanding participants can be offered internships, places on the French International Volunteer Programme and permanent contracts. Since it was created, 850 students have taken part, more than 40% of whom have joined Bouygues Construction for an internship, an international volunteering experience or a job, whether in support roles or at the heart of production.