The competition also gave me an opportunity to really focus on and refine my business mindset. Luckily I happened to start a new entrepreneurial module at the time that allowed me to explore those business perspectives. The entire competition has been an invaluable learning experience, from strengthening my programming skills for a more production level application, to my business and entrepreneurial skills in conceptualising and pitching a business idea to industry experts. I am grateful for Keyloop for this opportunity and to King’s for supporting and equipping me with skills to aid me in my journey.
Christian Grinling
11 April 2022
King's Engineering student success in Keyloop tech competition
BEng Electronic Engineering student Christian Grinling beats international field to win grand prize of £10,000 at the Dealer Tech University Automotive Technology Competition.
Hosted by Keyloop, the global automotive technology company, the competition challenged students to develop innovative tech-focused product ideas that can make an impact in the automotive industry.
Christian’s winning pitch focused on the development of a mobile phone app, named Coast, which simplifies the process of searching for and booking aftersales services for cars. It brings together a number of disjointed current solutions into one simple unified platform, enabling customers to search for and book a service online, whilst providing them with information on how much it will cost and how long it will take. The innovative app will also make it easier for dealerships to secure new aftersales bookings and build consumer trust, which could help to maximise the workshop efficiency.
Commenting on his motivation towards entering the competition, Christian commented:
"I wanted to challenge myself to create something more professional with some skills I had picked up through university in the past year, particularly in iOS development. I’ve always enjoyed finding the most elegant and practical solution to technological problems and I knew that I would be able to apply these experiences and my recent programming skills to innovate something new and exciting for the competition."
Christian also found the experience of preparing a pitch for the competition exciting. He added:
Dr Wei Liu, Senior Lecturer at King’s Department of Engineering, shared her congratulations:
“As the module leader, I am so pleased about Christian’s success in this international entrepreneurship competition. This results from King’s Engineering’s great leadership and efforts on building an entrepreneurship mindset for students through our curriculum. Christian shows the portrait of the future generation of engineers, who are capable of solving technical problems with the understanding on people and business context, translating technologies to innovation that truly benefits industry and society.”
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