And the Winner is...

It's our distinct pleasure and honor to announce the 2023-24 Altair Global Student Contest Grand Prize Winner: Luca Sutton from the TUfast Eco Team from TU Munich Germany.

Luca Sutton and his suspension team optimized 5 parts on their Shell Eco-Marathon vehicle, reducing the entire suspension weight by an unbelievable 41% using Altair Inspire. Take a look at their video and it is clear why they took home the $7,500 Grand Prize. Congrats to Luca and the whole TUfast team!

To everyone who submitted, Thank You, you all did amazing work.

Luca and the team will be honored at a ceremony, later on in the summer at TU Munich, check back in August for some pictures and videos of that event and keep your eyes open for upcoming, future Altair Global Student Challenges.

12 Months, 18 Countries, 36 Optimization Rockstars

It’s hard to believe that it has been a whole year. We have received numerous amazing entries and finally, at the end, those 36 winners went head-to-head to determine the best of the best. We put together an “A-List” team of industry and academic leaders in the field of simulation:

Eduardo Oslé, Senior Expert in Finite Element Modeling - Airbus - Spain
Clive Hands, Professor - Nelson Mandela University – South Africa
Tony Kellicut, Stress Engineer – Harley-Davidson - USA
Panduranga Rao Chirala, Senior Vice President of Tech Operations – Altair - India,
Ismail Benhayoun, Altair Enlighten Award Lead – Altair - USA

While they had an incredibly difficult task set for them, after much deliberation, they chose a winner.

Honorable Mentions

Most Improved Award

We are pleased to highlight an exceptional entry from Nguyen Huu Nghia of Vietnam. Among the few participants who carefully read the rules and submitted unique entries in multiple months, Nguyen stood out for his continuous improvement. His experience with Altair Inspire, enhanced video-making skills, and dedication to hard work led to increasingly impressive submissions. Although Nguyen won first prize in June 2023, he elevated his efforts with a new project in March 2024. Despite narrowly missing the top prize that month, Nguyen set a new standard for improvement. It is our pleasure to present his video submission and recognize Nguyen as the Most Improved Entry Award.

Congratulations, Nguyen, on your outstanding optimization work with Altair Inspire.

Youngest Entry Award

All of the many outstanding entries this past year deserve recognition, but this one stood out for special mention because of the age of the submitter. We proudly honor Luc Krotwaar from the Netherlands with the Youngest Entrant Recognition Award. At only 13 years old, Luc demonstrated remarkable engineering skills and creativity. Using Altair Inspire Optimization, he designed a lightweight, strong, and visually impressive key rack, which he 3D printed and showcased in action. Think back to what you were doing with your spare time when you were 13. For most Topology Optimization probably didn't make the list of activities. This kid is undoubtedly of a special caliber.

Although his entry missed the first prize that month, it exemplified innovation and dedication. Congratulations, Luc, on your achievement in the Altair Global Student Design Contest.

All winners at a glance

Watch a Summary of the 1-Year Contest and its Winners

Hundreds of students from 18 countries around the world entered optimization projects into our contest and 36 of them became Altair Optimization Rockstars. Watch a quick run-through of them in the video.

Play Video

A Great Real-World Industry Example

The outstanding product developers at 3D Systems are always pushing the boundaries with expert additive manufacturing solutions. The video shown here is a great example of what we want to see within the contest.

In their mission to create a lighter, more durable skateboard via topology optimization and additive manufacturing they used Inspire™ to optimize a traditional skateboard deck and trucks.

A quick process recap:

First, they imported CAD for their deck and trucks into Inspire.
Then they ran multiple topology optimizations with different load cases and percentages of material retention to find the basic form of their new designs.
Next, they explored around 30 different concepts, assessed each design's pros and cons, and selected the design that best achieved their objectives.
Last, they exported the deck's and truck's geometry back into CAD, 3D-printed their optimized skateboard, and physically tested it to prove its functionality.

Check out their video to see the process and amazing results.

Become an Optimization Rockstar with Inspire

Download free Software and Start Designing Light

Get the Free Inspire Personal Edition (instant download and use for one year, renewable).
Get the Free Altair Student Edition Bundle for access to Inspire and beyond (quick request and approval, valid for one year, renewable).

Learn Altair Inspire and Start Optimizing Your Designs

Visit the Inspire Academic Hub to find all the learning materials to get started with Inspire or to advance your skills.

Industry Experts Compete in Lightweighting, Too!

For over a decade, we've been awarding industry leaders with the Altair Enlighten Award for exceptional achievements in sustainability and lightweighting that successfully reduce carbon footprint and mitigate water and energy consumption.

By participating in the Altair Global Student Contest, you'll acquire valuable experience and skills that will prepare you to become part of the next generation of difference-makers in whatever industry you go into.

Showcase your optimization skills to industry leaders by submitting your lightweighting project.

Who knows - maybe your future employer will see it!