Aramco Asia Energy Cup highlights sustainability, entrepreneurship among young researchers

Regional winners of the “Aramco Asia Energy Cup” — qualifiers from China, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and South Korea — gathered for a key event in the Chinese capital of Beijing for the final contest after one year of intense competition, careful selection, and evaluation of the researchers’ innovative projects.

The Energy Cup has been designed to support the next generation of entrepreneurs in the Asia-Pacific region by providing them with the resources and expertise they need to develop innovative solutions.

The final contest attracted more than 150 graduate students, academic advisers, and industry experts, with Aramco Asia management acting as judges and observers at the event.

Funded through Saudi Aramco’s 2017 annual donation to the Asia-Pacific region, this innovative program was jointly developed and carried out by Aramco Asia and Enactus — a nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring students to improve the world through entrepreneurship accomplishments.

The North China Electric Power University (Baoding) undergraduate team won the top award of the Asia-Pacific competition with its creative design of a biogas photovoltaic complementary power generation system that helped farmers save electricity.

The program was launched in October 2016 with a theme of “Sustainability for Energy, Environment, and Climate Change.” It reached over 199,000 graduate and postgraduate students from 380 universities in China, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, and the Philippines, and helped them find innovative solutions to the environment and sustainability challenges.

As the company is striving to realize the long-term economic blueprint for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Aramco is maintaining a growing presence in Asia-Pacific and contributing to the future success of the region. Its business activities and expertise are leveraged for the benefits of the people and communities by strategizing and providing support to sustainability and environmental policies in the host countries.