Collider is a new type of student project course organized within the EuroTeQ alliance where students solve real-world challenges. The real-world challenge is provided by a firm or research institute. Students work in multidisciplinary teams and come from multiple faculties. Additionally, the Collider is open to all students from the partner schools, so the teams can also have foreign students. The result of a Collider project is the design or prototype of a solution to a real-world challenge.
The Collider has three parts: Kick-off Event, Collider team work sessions, and EuroTeQaThon international competition. Teams are formed during the Kick-Off Event. The main event, Collider team work sessions, takes a total of 6 days. The three best projects (the best project for each topic) will continue to compete in the EuroTeQathon. There, they will compete against the best projects from EuroTeQ partner schools. The winners of each topic will win a trip to Brussels to present their ideas to the European Commission.
The Collider usually takes place on the CTU Dejvice campus. Details of the exact location will be announced closer to the start of the event.
Three of the best projects will compete at EuroTeQaThon, where you can win a trip to Brussels. For the successful completion of a Collider project, you will receive 5 ECTS. You are required to attend the challenge presentations in person, participate in ongoing and final presentations, and actively consult with your mentors and company representatives.
You should take part in Collider if you want to learn to work in multi-disciplinary teams; learn how to deal with open-ended challenges from practice; how to collaborate with industry partners; and develop the communication skill to present your work successfully.
You will compare your skills and innovation with your international peers from other EuroTeQ partner universities. A selection of the best three Collider projects will continue to compete in a competition called the EuroTeQaThon.
The EuroTeQ cooperation (6 universities of technology – CTU, TUM, TU/e, L’X, Taltech, and DTU – and 2 associated partner schools Technion and EPFL) has the goal of training the European engineer of the future. For a future engineer, it is no longer sufficient to be knowledgeable of his/her domain and to have expertise in a technological area. Future engineers must be able to collaborate in multidisciplinary and international teams. They must be able to understand and take advantage of multicultural settings. The future engineer is capable of addressing technological and social challenges and providing innovative, efficient, sustainable, and inclusive solutions. He/she can put his/her knowledge and skills to use in collaboration with companies and societal partners. The Collider project aims to train students in these skills: collaboration, communication, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
The official language of Collider is English, including written and verbal presentations of results. What you use for your internal communications is of course completely up to you.
The CTU will provide the space to work with basic technological support (power plugs for laptops, internet connection, furniture, presentation desk, and so on). Depending on the challenges and what they require, CTU will aim to provide additional tools (for example, 3D printers, printers, and other tools). The materials to work on the prototypes must be organized by the team itself.
There is no syllabus or study material for a Collider. One of the tasks you have during a Collider is to set up your own “knowledge base” of materials that are useful for you and your team. The knowledge base consists of all materials, links, references, etc. that help you come up with a solution to the challenge.
There are multiple Collider projects planned. So far, the first Collider took place in May 2022, the second in November 2022, and the third is scheduled between March and June 2023. More information can be found in the EuroTeQ Challenge Owner3 Info Sheet.pdf You can join the Collider project repeatedly. As you participate in Collider multiple times, your level will increase from junior to medium to expert level. At each level, the requirements for the final result will be higher.
A Collider team is formed by 5 students. Students from multiple faculties work in a single Collider team; ideally, students from at least three faculties. People from companies can also join through their Life-Long Learning program. In the future, Collider will also be open to vocational learners.
Students who are registered in the KOS registration system will be contacted by the Collider guarantor (Prof. Henri Achten, Faculty of Architecture, email: henri.hubertus.achten@cvut.cz). Together, you will form the teams for the Collider.
The aim is to have multiple teams with each team up to 5 students. The enrollment is on the first-come-first -serve basis.
Teams will be led by people from companies or by EuroTeQ representatives, who will guide the general process of the Collider. Additionally, there are contact people from each faculty who can assist with more specific questions regarding the faculty where you are studying. For a list of mentors and contact persons, see the end of this FAQ.
The main theme for the third round of EuroTeQ Collider is “Leave no Waste Behind”, which stays the same as in the previous two rounds. Three sub-themes following the main theme are Cities, Energy, and Consumption. Specific challenges within these topics come from industrial partners or government bodies and will be presented during the Kick-Off Event.
No. You will have to select one of the provided challenges following the main theme “Leave no waste behind”.
The company is the challenge owner; they provide the problem on which you will be working. Depending on the type of problem and what is possible from the company’s side, they may also provide a tutor during the Collider. At the end of the Collider, you will present your result to the company, who will then give feedback on how they see the potential, originality, applicability, innovation, and readiness of the concept.
The end product of the Collider is a design, concept, or prototype that shows a concrete solution to the challenge provided by the challenge owner. What exactly it looks like depends highly on the challenge. It can be a piece of software code, a scale model of a device, an animation of a complex system, etc. However, what is essential is that the product shows how it works and how it solves the challenge to the best possible degree.
Collider results are judged by the Collider mentors, the challenge owner, and a member of the EuroTeQ Collider team. The mentors evaluate mostly the process (what did you learn, how did you work together, your overall attendance and activity throughout the Collider); the Challenge owner will judge mostly potential, originality, applicability, innovativeness, and readiness of the product; the member of the EuroTeQ Collider team will judge all aspects together because he/she has an overview of all Collider projects.
There will be two final evaluations of your concept. The first is in the Collider framework and reflects how successful you were in the Collider project. Based on this evaluation, you will get your KOS grades (following the standard A-F grading). It has an individual component (your own grade, depending on your contribution) and a group component (the overall evaluation of the final product). The second evaluation is for the selection of the best three projects that continue in the EuroTeQaThon (one project for each topic). So you can successfully complete the Collider, but not be selected in the EuroTeQaThon.
First of all, you have the responsibility as a team to monitor your own performance. However, the Collider coaches also observe team participation and how each member contributes to the project and assign a final grade to each member based on his/her performance. Hence, people who did not contribute may fail the course (F), and yet the group can pass the Collider.
The Collider is the flagship event of the EuroTeQ project. During the Collider, people from the EuroTeQ outreach group will document the process (photos, videos, interviews) and from each partner school a PR video and reports will be produced. Of course, before anything is published, you will be asked for consent regarding specific material.
Mentors in the Collider project:
• Prof.dr.ir. Henri Achten, Faculty of Architecture (henri.hubertus.achten@cvut.cz).
• Prof. Ing. arch. Zuzana Pešková, Ph.D., Faculty of Civil Engineering
(zuzana.peskova@fsv.cvut.cz)
• Doc. Ing. Lukáš Horný, Ph.D., Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (Lukas.Horny@fs.cvut.cz)
• Doc. Mgr. Jana Nábělková, Ph.D., Faculty of Civil Engineering (nabelkova@fsv.cvut.cz)
Contact people from other faculties (architecture and civil engineering are already mentioned above):
• Ing. Eva Rázková, Faculty of Machine Engineering (Eva.Razkova@fs.cvut.cz)
• Ing. Hana Matunová, Faculty of Electrical Engineering (matunhan@fel.cvut.cz)
• Prof. Dr. Ing. Michal Beneš, Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering (michal.benes@fjfi.cvut.cz)
• Ing. Martin Langr, Ph.D., Faculty of Transportation Science (langrmar@fd.cvut.cz)
• doc. Mgr. Zdeněk Hon, Ph.D., Faculty of biomedical engineering (zdenek.hon@fbmi.cvut.cz)
• doc. Ing. Pavel Kordík, Ph.D., Faculty of Information Technology (pavel.kordik@fit.cvut.cz)
• Ondřej Kolínský, MSc., Masaryk Institute of Advanced Studies (ondrej.kolinsky@cvut.cz)
More information about EuroTeQ Collider https://euroteq.eurotech-universities.eu/initiatives/competitions/the-euroteq-collider/
More information about EuroTeQ https://international.cvut.cz/euroteq/
People active in a Collider will work in a dedicated Microsoft Teams group. This is only accessible for people registered through KOS on CTUQCOL3.
For people who want to know more, but are not yet sure about the registration in KOS, there is Discord