SEAT Annouces Hackathon for Architectural Students

The company-organised Archithon contest will decide the winning project

20 Spanish and 20 German architects will present their design proposals after 48 hours of intensive work

MARTORELL -- May 11, 2015: SEAT aims to assemble all of its history and display it to the public in the most innovative way in a digital museum. The backdrop of the project is a hackathon-style event that begins on Friday 15 May with 40 architecture students from Spanish and German schools, working in groups over the weekend to come up with the best design for the museum. The company will reward the top three proposals and later implement the one that best meets the brief.

A hackathon is an event where computer programmers collaborate intensively on software projects. SEAT’s take on this kind of event is Archithon, where students and recent graduates from leading Spanish and German architecture schools have been invited for their talent, portfolio and ability to innovate. The winning project will be announced on Sunday and its authors will get to continue developing it further after the event. The jury will be composed of managers from different areas of the company.

SEAT Marketing Director, Christian Stein, pointed out that “SEAT has a long history that we are proud of. Now we want to share it with as many people as possible”. The approach has been to add a twist to an existing format. “Our brand is young at heart and we like to innovate. By creating this digital museum we will be able to reach all our customers and they will get the chance to visit us and learn all about our history”.

The weekend-long event is taking place at the One Ocean Club in Barcelona, a modern building located in the Port Vell marina, where participants will work in groups, take breaks to follow the scheduled conferences or find out more about SEAT’s involvement with connectivity by attending a workshop on this technological challenge, featuring a Leon X-PERIENCE as an example.

SEAT is the only company in its sector with the full-range capacity to design, develop, manufacture and market cars in Spain. A member of the Volkswagen Group, the multinational has its headquarters in Martorell (Barcelona), exporting more than 80% of its vehicles, and is present in 75 countries. In 2014 SEAT’s invoicing totalled almost 7.5 billion euros, the highest figure it its history, with worldwide sales of 390,500 units.

SEAT Group employs 14,000 professionals at its three production centres – Barcelona, El Prat de Llobregat and Martorell, where it manufactures the highly successful Ibiza and Leon, amongst other models. Additionally, the company produces the Alhambra in Palmela (Portugal), the Mii in Bratislava (Slovakia) and the Toledo in Mladá Boleslav (Czech Republic).

The Spanish multinational also has a Technical Centre, which celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2015. This ‘knowledge hub’, bringing together 900 engineers, aims to be the driving force behind innovation for the number one industrial investor in R&D in Spain. In line with its declared commitment to environmental protection, SEAT undertakes and bases its core activity on sustainability, namely reduction of CO2 emissions, energy efficiency, as well as recycling and re-use of resources.