Quantron assigned the Design Award 2024. Read our exclusive interview with Design Manager Koorosh Shojaei
With the goal of attracting young talents with fresh perspectives, the event created by Quantron served as a platform to challenge the status quo of the European transportation and logistics sector with forward-thinking yet practical ideas. We had a chat with the Jury president.
With a successful online ceremony, Quantron celebrated on March 18th the first edition of the Design Award. With the goal of attracting young talents with fresh perspectives, the event created by the German manufacturer served as a platform to challenge the status quo of the European transportation and logistics sector with forward-thinking yet practical ideas. The competition managed to attracted 35 applications, representing more than 10 different countries and 20 prestigious universities and design schools. Pictured above: the winning project.
Quantron Design Awards 2024: winners and motivations
After a thorough selection process, the panel selected three top winners and awarded one honourable mention award:
- 1st Place: Siddhartha Dutt, CCS (College for Creative Studies), Detroit, USA
- 2nd Place: Ana Alvarez Maestro, University of Navarra, Spain
- 3rd Place: Lorenzo Benzoni, IED (Istituto Europeo di Design), Turin, Italy
- Mention Award: George (Siu Fung Lau), IED (Istituto Europeo di Design), Turin, Italy
Siddhartha Dutt was chosen as the winner of the QUANTRON Design Award 2024. His design entry exhibited a comprehensive approach, effectively reflecting the full potential of the design brief through detailed visualization and extensive research and design process. Ana Alvarez Maestro, the youngest applicant, impressed the jury with her exceptional execution, proficient 3D modeling skills, and compelling visualizations. Finally, third-ranked Lorenzo Benzoni showcased with his project a sophisticated approach to efficiency, seamlessly integrating aerodynamics and innovative cabin structures. The partners in the Design Award project Vizcom, Gravity Sketch, and Automotive Design Planet extend their congratulations to all participants.
We had the pleasure to talk about this significant initiative with Quantron Design & Strategy Manager, Koorosh Shojaei.
The idea that lies behind the Award
Mr Shojaei, what’s the idea that lies behind the Quantron Design Award?
As QUANTRON we consider ourselves pioneer in green technology, innovation, and design. Design has consistently served as the means to generate innovative perspectives by envisioning future possibilities and realizing conceptual and yet feasible ideas. It follows our claim: “Empower the future”, underlining the values being “reliable” , “energetic”, and “brave” in everything we do. At QUANTRON we tackle the traditional problems with non-traditional approaches. And the aim of QUANTRON Design Award 2024 is to challenge the status quo of European transportation and logistics with forward-thinking yet practical ideas which can shape the sustainable future of industry in this field.
Is there any prize or reward for the winning project?
For sure. The winner takes 1st level grant of a stipend, continuous visibility through various social media platforms, Vizcom Lifetime pro subscription, 5 hours of online group training with a Gravity Sketch expert, in addition to QUANTRON 1st Place Design Award Trophy and QUANTRON Excellence Design Certification signed by the jury members. Also the second, third and special mentioned award receive a subscription from our partners Gravity Sketch and Vizcom besides a stipend, the trophy and official QUANTRON certification.
In addition, a potential internship or thesis project can be defined for one of the shortlisted candidates regardless of their project and based on the availability and matching the skills and background to the QUANTRON Design Team at the time.
Shojaei: “We were astonished to receive so many out of the box ideas”
As the president of the jury, what’s your opinion on the projects you examined? Was there anything that particularly amazed you?
In general, we were astonished to receive so many out of the box ideas based on the defined design brief for both 1st phase and the 2nd phase. The jury consisted of board members and managers from QUANTRON with vast background in the automotive, trucking, design and even hypercar and supercar field:
- Andreas Haller – CEO, Founder & Chairman of the Board
- Koorosh Shojaei – Design & Strategy Manager
- Reto Leutenegger – CSO (Chief Sales Officer)
- René Wollmann – CTO (Chief Technology Officer) & Member of the Board
- Martin Lischka – Director Global Product Management
The design briefing was creating a modular concept for a future heavy hydrogen fuel cell powered truck and its ecosystem. You can clearly see the result of the evaluations in the winning projects, based on the 4 main criteria, which are: Reflecting The Design Brief, Innovation & Creativity, Presentation & Visualisation, Feasibility & Compatibility with QaaS.
In short, can you tell us how (and why) it is different to design a ZE truck, compared to a conventional vehicle?
Designing a zero-emission truck differs mainly due to the need to integrate alternative powertrain solutions like hydrogen fuel cells or electric batteries, necessitating reimagined vehicle architecture and advanced energy and cooling management systems.
This entails optimizing aerodynamics and weight to maximize efficiency and range while addressing refueling or charging infrastructure needs. The primary goal is to minimize environmental impact by reducing greenhouse emissions and pollutants associated with traditional diesel trucks, requiring innovative design approaches that prioritize sustainability and environmental responsibility in the transportation sector.
The other main focus of the QUANTRON Design Award 2024 has been the possibility of considering a tractor unit with and without a cabin. The cabin solution can accomodate a driver with the traditional package and the cab-less solution would be remotly driven or will be fully autonomous. In this way you will not be seeing hundreds and thousands of trucks parking alongside the roads when the drivers have to take a rest or sleep overnight. Instead the drivers will have a normal 8 hours working routine from the QUANTRON Driver’s Hub, while not being away from their families and beloved ones. The fleet of the trucks can then even run non-stop for 2 or 3 shifts with multiple drivers or at some cases to be fully autonomous.
