Saint-Gobain launches second edition of its Business Challenge with Agorize

Saint-Gobain, in partnership with Agorize, the online platform for open innovation challenges, is launching another edition of its collaborative innovation challenge in France. This year, Saint-Gobain is setting students and start-ups the task of boosting the efficiency of businesses and professionals in the building sector. They can submit their project until October 22, 2017.

Start-ups can participate in the competition with innovative products and services that they have developed and adapted to Saint-Gobain’s requirements. Students are encouraged to imagine themselves to be a building professional specialized in renovation (e.g. a gypsum wallboard specialist, plumber, mason, carpenter or tile setter) or a small general contracting business and address a question faced by the CEO of any SME: "How can future-forward tools and services help us be more competitive?"

The Challenge will take place over a four-month period and culminate with the finals, an event to be held in Paris in December 2017. Start-ups and students wishing to enter the competition are required to fill out an online questionnaire and present their project on the platform. The most outstanding among them will be given a chance to make their pitch to Saint-Gobain's senior management. The prizes for start-ups will be monetary or take the form of a partnership for the deployment of their innovative product or service. As for students, a number of prizes will be offered, including a trip.

In 2016, the first edition of the Business Challenge rewarded the RénovESSEC team in particular. Their inventive idea based on a partnership between Pinterest and Lapeyre, a subsidiary of the Saint-Gobain Group, to allow Internet users to win a fully equipped kitchen was highly effective. The operation will begin on October 17, 2017 on the lapeyre.fr site and at the Lapeyre des Halles outlet in Paris."

Signups for start-ups and students are already open on the Challenge platform.

Follow the Challenge on the @saintgobain Twitter account (#startup) until October 22!

ABOUT SAINT-GOBAIN

Saint-Gobain designs, manufactures and distributes materials and solutions which are key ingredients in the wellbeing of each of us and the future of all. They can be found everywhere in our living places and our daily life: in buildings, transportation, infrastructure and in many industrial applications. They provide comfort, performance and safety while addressing the challenges of sustainable construction, resource efficiency and climate change.

€39.1 billion in sales in 2016
Operates in 67 countries
More than 170,000 employees
www.saint-gobain.com
@saintgobain

MEDIA CONTACT:
Susanne Trabitzsch: +33 (0)1 47 62 43 25

ABOUT AGORIZE
Agorize was established in 2011 to meet an obvious need: large companies must open up to collaborative creation to preserve their leading position and avoid being displaced due to disruption. Agorize is the missing link between large organizations and innovators across the world.
With more than 200 open innovation challenges to its credit, Agorize has partnered with over 150 big companies, including Axa, Aéroport de Paris, Air Liquide, Bank of America, Décathlon, Deutsche Telekom, Engie, Google, L’Oréal, Maif, Pepsico, Uber, Tinder and Total.
With offices in Paris, Stuttgart, Hong Kong, Seoul and Montreal, Agorize was voted "Best Collaborative SaaS Platform 2016" by French Tech. For more information: www.agorize.com

MEDIA CONTACT:
Charles Thou: charles@agorize.com