An affordable housing project using 3d printing developed in EAE Business School’s incubator wins the Babson Challenge

An affordable housing project using 3d printing, Wasi 3D, developed in the incubator of EAE Business School Barcelona has won the Babson Challenge, a competition for startups from different universities and business schools around the world, organized by the highly acclaimed Babson College, a global leader in entrepreneurship

Wasi 3D is headed by three students at EAE Business School Barcelona, which forms part of Planeta Formación y Universidades: Elionore Cruz, Diego de La Torre and Álvaro Valarezo, who are on a quest to provide a sustainable solution to the global housing problem.

“Receiving this prize from Babson College, a global leader in entrepreneurship, gives us a seal of quality that will help us attract investors. It gives us a big boost towards make the dream of our entrepreneurial venture a reality, which we have put everything into. EAE Entrepreneur Barcelona has been a crucial part of our adventure towards taking part in the final at Babson College. Right from the start, they gave us access to a range of experts who gave us detailed feedback on our business model, not only members of EAE Barcelona, but also external advisors who challenged us to keep focusing on our value proposition”, explained Diego de La Torre on finding out the good news.

As winners, the three members of the projects will receive a prize of $2,500 dollars to invest in 3D and a scholarship for Babson Build, an intensive two-week bootcamp designed to develop entrepreneurial thinking and skills through experiential learning based on Babson’s Entrepreneurial Thought & Action® methodology.

In this edition of the Babson Challenge, 800 projects were submitted by undergraduate and Master students from 28 business schools in 21 countries, with a total of 2,990 students from all over the world taking part.

REVOLUTIONIZING THE CONSTRUCTION SECTOR

Wasi 3D strives to revolutionize the construction sector, moving on from traditional expensive and time-consuming methods. Like other 3D printing projects, this technique reduces the costs of the houses built by 20% or 25%, as well as cutting the construction time by a third and generating 60% fewer CO2 emissions.

By printed houses, Wasi 3D is tackling the urgent need for social housing that is affordable, scalable, energetically efficient and environmentally friendly. Wasi 3D uses a patented mineable material based on local earth and non-polluting additives, inspired by traditional Peruvian construction techniques.

The project is currently looking for an initial investment to cover the costs of machinery, materials and workers to get the venture off the ground.

SECOND PRIZE FOR EAE BUSINESS SCHOOL AT THE MADRID CAMPUS WITH H2nOt  

The H2nOt project, focusing on the production of effervescent tablets for personal hygiene, led by a team from EAE Business School Madrid, came in second place, receiving a prize of $2,000 to help finance the project.

The idea of creating H2nOt was a response to identifying the growing problem associated with the excessive use of plastics in the tourism industry and the urgent need to conserve drinking water.

The idea focuses on the manufacture of personal hygiene products with reusable packaging, eliminating waste from single-use plastics and minimizing the consumption of water in the manufacturing process through innovative effervescent tablets. These tablets promise to replace traditional hygiene products provided by the hotel industry to its guests.

The brains behind the project, Daniel Mesa, from the Master in Entrepreneurship at EAE Madrid, and Alegría Vazconez, from the Master in Project Management, underlined the importance of having reached second place, as it is “not only an acknowledgement from a leading institution in the field of entrepreneurship of the calibre of Babson, but also recognition of our efforts and abilities and entrepreneurs and drivers of change”.

In this year’s edition, María Ximena Rodríguez and Santiago Tobón, the Directors of the Entrepreneurship Department at EAE Business School Madrid, formed part of the jury in the global semifinal phase in the undergraduate category, evaluating more than 20 projects.

“We had the opportunity to discuss the evaluation with a board on which we interacted with Directors and Heads of the Entrepreneurship Departments of the other leading schools around the world”, explained Ximena. Meanwhile, Santiago emphasized that “evaluating entrepreneurial projects with a focus an impact showed us that we are doing things right at EAE. We are now at the cutting-edge of issues of impact, innovation and technology”, concluded the professionals from EAE Entrepreneur Madrid.