“Atos announces the winners of its 2014 IT Challenge”

Overall winner from France together with finalists from US and UK demonstrate how technology can enhance our Olympic and Paralympic Games experience

Atos, an international IT services company and Worldwide IT Partner for the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee, today named Eirb Dev from ENSEIRB-MATMECA, an engineering school in France as the overall winner of its third global IT Challenge that looked for applications to improve the user’s experience at the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The two runners up were from Columbia University in the USA and Loughborough University in the UK.

MOP! – My Olympic Plan – developed by team Eirb Dev from ENSEIRB-MATMECA was the winning app. It helps you plan your day of sport and sightseeing based on your preferences. You can view your schedule as a timeline or a map and it can guide you to your destination. The judges were impressed with the entire project, which was supported by excellent video and written materials. They concluded that the app offers a positive user experience with a good look and feel and that the code has been very well implemented and documented both on the app and server side.

The team was presented with the gold medal prize by Thierry Breton, Chairman and CEO of Atos, at an awards ceremony, which took place at the Atos Head Quarters in Bezons, Paris today. Each member of team Eirb Dev received a trip of a lifetime to Barcelona. The prize includes return flights, accommodation, as well as a visit to the Atos Olympic IT excellence center where they will meet experts from Atos, the IOC and the Rio 2016 Organising Committee to discuss how the app can be further developed.

Commenting on the quality of entries, Thierry Breton, Chairman and CEO of Atos, said: “Year after year, we are impressed by the talent of the students competing; their enthusiasm and creativity as well as the sheer quality of the entries received throughout this competition. Through their creativity the teams demonstrate with real life examples how we will be living in tomorrow’s connected world and how, through innovative thinking, IT can truly enhance how we watch and enjoy sporting events.”

Platter developed by team Columbia from the University of Columbia was awarded second prize. It offers an interactive map and GPS locator, so users can find the location of shops, food outlets, bus stops, first aid services and also the opening times and services available. The judges were particularly impressed by the algorithm developed to measure crowd density that uses time of day and venue capacity to anticipate queue size at the different outlets.

The Rio Fantasy App developed by team Chocobo from Loughbourough University came third and offers fantasy athletics challenging players to build a team of athletes to compete against friends and other fans to win gold. Judges particularly liked the design of this app and how it may encourage spectators to follow sports they wouldn’t normally, simply to check the progress of their team.

All three teams were awarded an Atos Diploma demonstrating outstanding achievement and the chance to apply for highly sought after internships at Atos.

This year’s competition is supported by the IOC, the IPC and the Rio 2016 Organising Committee and the judging panel includes representatives from all three of these organisations as well as the Atos Scientific Community – a global network of around 100 of the best business technologists within Atos.

Frédéric Wojciechowski, Head of Olympic Games Technology at the International Olympic Committee, said: “IT is critical to the success of the Olympics Games and we are delighted to have the opportunity to support the Atos IT Challenge which gives those developing the technology for tomorrow, the opportunity to shine. The standard of entries in this competition has been outstanding and shows the potential that technology has to further improve our sporting experience.”

Craig Spence, Communications & Media Director from the International Paralympic Committee, said; “IT has helped us bring the excitement of the Paralympic Games to more people in more countries and we are delighted, as judges in this IT Challenge, to have a sneak preview of tomorrow’s technologies that will help us to further improve the spectator’s experience of the Games.”

Elly Resende, Technology Director at Rio 2016 Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, said: “The role of technology increases at each Olympic and Paralympic Games and we believe that in Rio, it will play an even greater role than in London and Sochi. Looking at all the apps submitted for this year’s Atos IT Challenge, we see that there are ways IT can even further improve the Games experience that we hadn’t yet considered. We are delighted to be part of the judging process and looking forward to seeing some of the apps in use in Rio.”

Each year Atos recruits around 7000 engineers globally. The IT Challenge forms part of Atos’s Wellbeing@work initiative and supports its objective to encourage and develop talent.

More information about the contest (rules, prizes, partner universities, the Coaches & the Jury, Atos the Olympic and Paralympic Games ) see www.atositchallenge.net.