This year, the Convergence Challenge took place in Sète on the theme Sea, Sea Tech, and Blue Economy. The 70 students from IMT schools took on the challenges launched by companies and local authorities during 72 hours of immersion.
6 challenges to tackle
- Reusing treated water launched by SUEZ
- Sustainably inhabiting a changing coastline launched by Sète Agglopôle Méditerranée
- Depolluting waterways launched by VINCI Construction
- Digitalizing marine farming launched by Blue Thau Lab
- Designing the ecological breakwaters of tomorrow launched by LINEUP OCEAN
- Optimizing a multi-use device in the Mediterranean Sea launched by UNDA
Collective intelligence in the face of climate change
Faced with the repercussions of climate change on the marine environment, the students’ objective was to reinvent the economic, social, and cultural uses of the sea. To achieve this, they were given access to the port of Sète, the Suez water treatment plant, an oyster farmer’s facility, and the premises of the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer). These visits took place throughout the challenge and enabled them to develop their strategy for a future blue economy.
Mines Saint-Etienne awarded
After 4 days of deliberation, team #SeaYouSoon, accompanied by Rémi De Almeida (Head of Industrial Relations and Entrepreneurship at Mines Saint-Etienne), won the 1st prize “Sustainable Innovation and Territory” for its response to the LINEUP OCEAN challenge. In the awards, two Mines Saint-Etienne students stood out:
- Lucine Schieber, who was part of the winning team #SeaYouSoon
- Auguste Verrier, ISMIN student, who won with his team Seanergie the “special mention” prize in response to the UNDA challenge.
We congratulate these two students as well as their classmates Sofia Castrillon, Sébastien Remy, Gaël Kandel, Simon Jonval, and Sébastien Ren, students at Mines Saint-Etienne, for their participation in the Convergence Challenge 2025.
