Global automotive design and engineering consultancy Contechs, a long-time advocate of identifying and nurturing outstanding young talent in the industry, has launched a new award to celebrate and highlight design stars of the future.
The newly-formed Contechs Design Award places a spotlight on exceptional automotive design students at Coventry University, providing a platform to showcase their creative design skills to potential employers, with recognition from automotive design leaders.
The award forms a key part of a long-term collaboration between Contechs and Coventry University which spans almost two decades. The Midlands-based university is located in the heart of the UK’s automotive industry and is globally recognised as a leading choice for aspiring automotive designers from around the world.
Hosted recently for the first time at Coventry University’s Delia Derbyshire building, the Contechs Design Award gave the final-year Transport Design course students the opportunity to present their creative design projects to a distinguished group of judges.
Chris Hamilton, Design Director for Contechs and a former graduate of Coventry University’s Transport Design course, was joined by Carsten Astheimer, founder and Managing Director of Astheimer Design, and Jordan Demkiw, Exterior Design Manager at Ford of Europe, to select the inaugural winners of the Contechs Design Award.
1st place (Diogo Goncalves): Diogo Goncalves (right) receiving first place award from Chris Hamilton (left)
Diogo Goncalves was awarded first place after impressing the judges with an innovative solution to human organ transportation. The autonomous vehicle design featured superbike proportions and housed an Organic Care System (OCS) in the centre for reliable transportation of organs.
Laszlo Csizmadia’s second place design, a future motorsport ground and air racing concept
Laszlo Csizmadia took second place, presenting a creative future motorsport concept which had the ability to race on the ground and in the air, while Jaeun Park secured third place with a multifunctional SUV vehicle concept named ‘Concept Midway’.
3rd place: Jaeun Park’s third place design, a modular utility vehicle named ‘Concept Midway’
Speaking about this new award, Chris Hamilton said: “Contechs has been a proud sponsor of the Coventry Transport Design course for over 17 years. It is important to us that we are engaged in the design community and supporting young designers at the beginning of their careers. This new award recognises the very best young design talent and helps them get recognition within the industry.”
Contechs’ commitment to recognising and inspiring the next generation of automotive designers extends beyond the Contechs Design Award. The award-winning automotive consultancy also creates and supports several integrated student projects throughout the students’ academic studies.
This academic year’s second-year project saw students design and propose a new Contechs EV (electric vehicle) brand, encompassing Contechs’ four key brand pillars: Design, Engineering, Technology, Innovation. The students were encouraged to utilise the power of AI (artificial intelligence) alongside traditional design skills to enhance and inspire their design efforts.
Contechs Design Awards
Shaun Hutchinson, Automotive and Transport Design Deputy Course Director and Assistant Professor at Coventry University, commented: “We pride ourselves on the employability of our students, and our close collaboration with Chris and Contechs has been invaluable in helping us to design a course that is industry approved and helps our students achieve their goals.
“Our course is flexible so we can adapt it in line with latest industry developments such as AI. Chris was integral in helping us to understand how AI is applied, allowing us to integrate it into our modules giving our students the right skillsets for the jobs they want.”
Shaun’s comments were echoed by James Ayre, Assistant Professor, Automotive and Transport Design, who said: “Working closely with valued industry collaborators like Contechs allows students to apply learnings from the course to relevant and relatable projects. Building portfolios, networks and new techniques creates valuable employment opportunities within the industry, facilitated by such collaborations. This project was a success because of its wide scope and the freedom that students had to answer the brief, along with continuous efforts from Chris Hamilton to support students and encourage strong reasoning and decision making throughout.”
Winners: Contechs Design Award winners celebrating with award judges (pictured left to right: Jordan Demkiw, Laszlo Csizmadia, Diogo Goncalves, Jaeun Park, Chris Hamilton
Founded in 1997, Contechs has been at the forefront of automotive design, engineering, technology and innovation for more than 26 years and has bases in the UK, Germany, USA and India.
The global automotive consultancy works as a strategic partner to the automotive industry, providing innovative design and engineering services to global OEMs, from concept to production. Delivering the next generation of vehicles (ICE, EV, Hybrid) and connected services, Contechs works across all disciplines in the product development process to deliver global vehicle programmes.
