News

A new terrorist defense system ensured students victory for Danish Championship in entrepreneurship

13 June 2017

Four students from SIMAC in Svendborg are behind the idea Nice Defense, which on 1 June won the Danish Championship in entrepreneurship for students. SIMAC dominated the winning field and drew several other prizes home, but there were also prizes for students from Holstebro, Aarhus, Aalborg and Roskilde.

20 teams of students had qualified for the final, which was held at the Confederation of Danish Enterprise on Wednesday 1 June. The four students from the maritime education SIMAC impressed the judges so much that they won both the championship and a category prize.

Christian Hvam Madsen, Bonnik White, Mathias Smedegaard Ulmer and Mads Woetmann are the four students behind the idea Nice Defence, which is a new form of protection against vehicles used as weapons in a terrorist attack. Nice Defence is an intelligent speed bump that detects the type of vehicle that drives over, then pushes spikes into the wheels, and spans a net around the wheels so that the vehicle stops. The goal is to secure public areas, but in the long term, the system can also be used for ghost drivers.

"We have really worked hard - especially in recent weeks - to reach our goal. It has been nice to be a part of the championship and get feedback and to hear that others believe in our idea. Now we are looking forward to the European Championship, and we have to work very much and it will be hard, but we are really happy and we look forward to the new challenge, said the winners when they came down from the stage."

Nice Defence first won their category Social Entrepreneurship and DKK 25,000 sponsored by Trygfonden. In addition, they won another DKK 25,000 when they became the overall winner and ran the title of Danish champion in entrepreneurship. The three students will also represent Denmark at the JA Europe Enterprise Challenge in Helsinki at the end of June.

SIMAC became big winner

SIMAC put a significant impression on the championship and their students got five awards. In addition to the first place and category winner in the Social Entrepreneurship for Nice Defence, the team FirstMower won the category Greentech and the overall 2nd place. It gave them DKK 25,000 sponsored by the Tønder Energy and Environmental Fund and also a ticket to the JA Europe Enterprise Challenge in Helsinki.

"The money is good, but the fun is winning and moving on with the idea and developing the idea. We get many inputs when we come to a new competition and it helps us to make our product even better, it sounded from FirstMower as they won for their machine, which can make mowing the grass in the middle of the highway safer, faster and less annoying for road users. "

SIMAC, as an educational institution, was also honored with the award for the Entrepreneur Education Institution of the Year.

"It's actually a bit overwhelming. It is an appreciation of something we have been working on for many years. So we are incredibly proud! We have also developed our teaching very much in recent years. We have had a great deal of focus on networks - that it is not only student projects, but real projects the students work on", said the teachers Thomas Holm Nordfeldt and Jesper Kollerup.

Extra sharp competition this year

It was not easy to win for Nice Defence, because for the first time all participants for the championship had to qualify through a regional finale. This lead to an even higher level of ideas this year.

"Today we have seen some really ambitious and dedicated young entrepreneurs. They use their professionalism to develop ideas for current societal challenges, and at the Danish Championships you see how impressive the young entrepreneurs are", says Christian Vintergaard, CEO of the Danish Foundation for Entrepreneurship.

All finalists are students from higher education, who have participated in Start Up Programme."

"Nice Defence" at Danish Championship in entrepreneurship for students.
Photo: Danish Foundation for Entrepreneurship

We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Learn more.

I accept cookies from this site: