Henkel kicks off its Innovation Challenge!

The 5th Henkel Innovation Challenge, a global event open for students across India to compete as innovators, was announced today. The competition focuses on sustainability and entails that the innovations must contribute to sustainable development in areas such as reducing energy or water consumption.

The global competition will have teams from 14 European countries and the Asia/Pacific region compete for a top place in the challenge. This year's international final will be held in April 2012 in Poland, the home country of last year's winners. The winning team will receive an around-the-world ticket and a travel voucher worth ‚¬1,000.

Commenting on the "Henkel Innovation Challenge', Jeremy Hunter, President, Henkel Group, India said: "The Henkel Innovation Challenge helps identify the most innovative ideas that may range from process, product or packaging. It not only awards the best innovations, but also offers young talented minds an opportunity to be mentored by experienced Henkel managers, who act as advisors guiding and coaching the shortlisted teams."

"This challenge has given international exposure to several young innovators in the previous years. Such has been Henkel's association with these young innovators that several of them have chosen their career paths with the company after this enriching experience through the mentorship."

For the last four years, winners were from Europe with Spain leading at the first year's challenge. In the second year, the team from Netherlands was declared the winner based on their revolutionary concept of Persilair, which is a small bottle of ecological friendly gas connected to a washing machine which makes it possible to wash clothes without using water. For the third year, the German team won accolades with an innovative concept of a cleaning product entitled, "Terra BioNet', which works as a biodegradable surface coating that cleans all kinds of surfaces through the use of long-lasting bacteria, thus replacing the need for regular cleaning. Last year, the team from Poland won the challenge by making a powerful case for "Persil Oxygen', which ensures that laundry gets done with no noise and with total ecological compatibility while hanging in the wardrobe in a clothes bag.