[This is a sponsored post with edotco.]
If you’re a year 3 or 4 engineering student, or pursuing your postgraduate studies in Southeast Asia, this competition has a challenge for you.
The edotco Infrastructure Design Competition is calling for students to work on ideas for the next generation communications tower. This could range from using alternative materials, optimising or reinventing the steel structure design, to improving the sites the towers are built on.
With the theme of “Infrastructure for Tomorrow: Designing the Future”, students can participate in planning actual change, without even waiting for you to finish your studies.
Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, edotco currently operates or manages over 41,000 towers across Asia. This design challenge comes with real-world implications—your plan could potentially see the light and be deployed all over this region.
As a key part of edotco’s ethos is conducting business in a responsible and sustainable manner, this is also an important element of the competition.
Sustainability as a focus
One of the previous tower structures innovated by edotco is a bamboo telecom tower. Developed in partnership with the Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology, bamboo is used as an alternative material to the traditional steel structures.
Not only is bamboo a renewable material, with the rigidity and tensile strength to support its own weight and concrete too, it is also able to withstand gusts of up to 210km/h. The team behind it estimates an expected lifespan of approximately 10 years, with proper maintenance.
“The usage of bamboo in constructing towers is set to reduce our dependence on steel by 80% and decrease 70% of carbon footprint per site,” said an edotco representative.
As part of edotco’s commitment to green solutions, they hope to repeat the experience of leveraging the versatility and creativity of youthful minds to develop telecommunications infrastructure like this.
Sustainability is more than just championing a certain material, and edotco’s efforts for green engineering include developing a healthy environment and an enriched community in the areas surrounding their tower sites.
They’ve provided electricity and clean water access to communities, powered up refrigeration systems for vaccine storage facilities, and even set up WiFi connectivity in a local library.
Now that you know the importance of the green factor when it comes to your tower design, here is some other information that you should bear in mind.
Competition details and other need-to-knows
With their academic partner UKM, edotco will be running mentorship sessions to coach and mentor participants throughout the competition to ensure the outcomes align with the judging expectations.
Over 100 submissions are expected from all across SEA, and the following are the steps to take to be part of the competition:
- Form teams of 2 to 4 participants consisting of at least 1 student majoring in Civil Engineering.
- Upon successful registration, design a tower and foundation that fits the next generation of telecommunication infrastructure criteria based on the given Technical Framework. Do note that submissions must be in English.
- The teams behind the top 5 entries will be presenting before a panel of judges, consisting of experts from edotco, the industry, and academicians from UKM, at a virtual Grand Finale (March 2022)
- 3 winners with innovative ideas will win cash prizes totalling up to USD 5,000.
You will also have to bear in mind these 4 pillars when it comes to the designs: innovation, cost efficiency, feasibility & functionality, and environmental friendliness.
So for any student eager to see your ideas go beyond just theoretical drawings, this is your chance to engage with industry leaders, gain knowledge, and get technology exposure while creating innovative solutions.
- Register for the competition here and find out more details here. Submissions close on 30th of January 2022.
Feature Image Credit: edotco