The Secretaries of State for Business, Economic Diversification, and Innovation, Marc Saura, and for Education, Josep Anton Bardina, presented the ninth edition of the Tandem Project from Andorra Business on Tuesday, October 1. This project aims to involve the vocational education community in Andorra with innovative projects developed within companies and to foster students’ talent.
The main novelty this year, as Bardina highlighted, is that “this year, Vocational Education incorporates entrepreneurship as part of its program within transversal skills, and for the first time, the Tandem program will count towards the student’s final grade.” Additionally, the program’s duration is now six months, compared to three months in previous editions.
The Secretary of State for Business, Economic Diversification, and Innovation, Marc Saura, noted that “the disruptive and innovative ideas of the students are utilized by companies to solve their challenges. At the same time, we want the talent of our vocational students to gain new knowledge to nurture an entrepreneurial and forward-thinking youth focused on innovation, which is one of the Government’s priorities.”
This edition includes 68 students from fields such as social and community support, auxiliary nursing care, IT systems and network support, and software development support. Students will work with 11 teachers from the Aixovall center and various mentors to address challenges posed by three companies. Global Risc seeks to leverage digital channels and new technologies to improve communication with clients; Montpackers aims to develop a growth strategy considering user needs, market trends, and business opportunities; and Sira is focused on technology solutions to make Andorra’s future communities more efficient in environmental management. Representatives from the participating companies also attended the presentation.
The first edition of Tàndem ended in May 2017, with three proposals presented by the Vocational training students. They came up with various solutions to the challenge posed by Perfumeria Júlia, which consisted of analysing the customer’s behaviour to improve their experiences inside the shops. The winning project consisted of an application to capture the customers information thanks to a method that combines NFC, Wifi and Bluetooth technology. Eleven students and five teachers took part of the project, involving Perfumeries Julia as the only participant company.
In the Tàndem’s second edition, the Vocational training students had to face the challenges posed by the companies: Dermandtek, on how to raise awareness to prevent skin cancer; Hotels Plaza, on how to offer a personalised gift experience to its clients; and Inlingua, on creating an attractive language immersion project during the months of July and August aimed at teenagers. Among the five finalist projects, the winner was for an application and a loyalty points system that allows the client to enjoy exclusive advantages and activities in the hotel facilities. In this edition, all the students of the Vocational Training Centre (61) participated, supervised by 11 teachers, and worked on challenges set by the three companies.
In the third edition of the Tàndem project, the Vocational training students worked on the innovation challenges posed by Andorra Telecom, Gamma Management and VallmedicVision. The winning team presented a battery of proposals to improve the sales of Andorra Telecom’s prepaid cards. 72 students participated, supervised by 12 teachers, and the challenges were as follows: Andorra Telecom, on how to innovate in the offer of prepaid mobile telephony to reach more customers; VallmedicVision, on ideas to raise awareness among the Andorran population to avoid the abuse of digital screens and reducing myopia; and Gamma Management wanted to improve the relationship of this human resources company with its customers, which are both companies and applicants.
The Tàndem’s fourth edition was attended by 68 students and 12 teachers from the Aixovall centre who worked on the challenges posed by Morabanc Andorra (How to make basketball a priority leisure option for the population between 20 and 40 years of age); Unicef (How to strengthen the collaboration of young people and Unicef); and Vatel (How to make professions in the hotel and tourism sector more attractive to the country’s students).
In the fifth edition 80 students and 12 teachers took part, working on challenges presented by the Andorran Red Cross (How to expand the Red Cross´s presence on a social level in the Principality); Vallnord (How to reduce Vallnord Ski Resort´s ecological footprint); and Via Moda (How to reformulate Via Moda´s internal procedures to reduce their ecological footprint).
91 students from the Vocational training center took part in the sixth edition, the highest number up to then, tutored by 12 teachers, and they worked on challenges presented by the companies Abast Global, aimed at attracting, returning and retaining talent in Andorra, Daguisa Hotels, who wanted to eliminate all plastics from hotel management, and FEDA, the winning challenge, who wanted to promote healthy habits among the entities´ workers.
At the seventh edition, 93 students and 18 teachers from the Aixovall center, along with five companies, participated. Caldea (how to attract couples to the new Resort hotel and SPA), Ràdio i Televisió d’Andorra (how to gain more viewers from the younger age group), Tècniques d’Avantguarda (how to address and manage a person’s need for any professional service at home), Centre Mèdic Valira (how to provide tools and resources to prevent visual pathologies in children under 6), and HomeBox (how to coordinate citizens and clients in the country to carry out a move through an exchange of professional skills). Finally, the winning team was tasked with working on the challenge presented by Centre Mèdic Valira.
In the latest edition, 60 students participated, divided into 12 teams supervised by 12 teachers and various business mentors. They worked on challenges presented by Nice Tech, which tasked them with raising awareness among the Andorran population about the value of frozen fruit; Molines Patrimonis, which sought ideas to create a unique professional environment in the country—efficient, profitable, sustainable, and technologically advanced for future companies; and Opció Group, which aimed to understand the skills young people will need for the professional world of the future. Finally, the winning team was Arq & Mirall, with a project for an avant-garde and smart building, offering a solution to the challenge presented by the company Molines Patrimonis.
Tuesday, October 1, 2024