The Bilbao School of Engineering presented its Business Awards this Wednesday, sponsored by companies such as Management Solutions, Itelazpi, ITP Aero, Fundación Repsol, and Tradewind. The awards aim to recognize academic excellence and support projects with real-world applications. The center's deputy director, Alberto Oleaga, highlighted the school's "close relationship" with the industrial and business world, which translates into approximately 1,500 internship agreements annually and a job fair that attracted over 300 companies.
One of the awardees was Gaizka González, a student of the Degree in Telecommunication Technology Engineering, who received the Itelazpi#TelekoSaria award for his work on the future of the Internet. His research proposes replacing current security key distribution systems with ones resistant to the threat of quantum computing. "Quantum computers are under development and could have a significant impact on Internet security in the future," explains the young student, who admitted he hadn't initially planned to enter the competition.
The digital transformation award went to the TFM of Xabier Agirre, a student of the Master's in Mechanical Engineering. His research focused on analyzing how the choice of a specific motor can alter the behavior of large machining tools and enhance their capacity to cut materials like steel or aluminum. "We are establishing an additional criterion to maximize the machine's cutting capacity," he summarizes. The project was developed over eight months on a part-time basis at the Ideko technological center.
Sustainability was also recognized. Elena Real received the first prize from Fundación Repsol for a project analyzing how to design women's mountain trousers that meet specific needs while reducing environmental impact. "I firmly believe that production and consumption models need to be transformed," she states.
In the field of aeronautical and space propulsion, the award from ITP Aero went to Ane Porto. Her work employs artificial intelligence and computer vision to help detect defects in aeronautical components from X-ray images. The student worked with over 14,000 labeled images and tested six AI models. "X-ray inspection relies heavily on the human factor, which introduces limitations," she explained, aiming to reduce inspector workload and improve the accuracy and reliability of quality control in the aerospace sector.
The awards also recognized the work of Iván Pérez Díaz, a student of the Master's in Maritime Navigation and Transport, who is currently at sea in Honduras. His TFM analyzes the 'sloshing' phenomenon, the violent movement of liquid in liquefied natural gas ship tanks. The second-place winner for Fundación Repsol, American student Meagan Mehlhop, explained via video her research on developing sustainable materials to remove emerging contaminants from water.
