Vocational students win HPE AI challenge
Can a 25-hour competition redefine the future of smart cities across three countries?
An international hackathon brought together 559 young participants to design real solutions to the most pressing urban challenges in technology, data, and artificial intelligence.
The focused silence of a room filled with screens, high-pressure ideas, and sleepless teams left a lasting image in Madrid. For 25 uninterrupted hours, young participants from three countries faced not only a technical challenge, but also the pressure of imagining solutions that could be applied in real urban environments where every decision matters.
The HPE headquarters in Madrid hosted the final of the fifth edition of the HPE CDS Tech Challenge, a talent identification, development, and empowerment initiative for young tech professionals led by HPE and developed by CDS, an HPE company. Marking its fifth anniversary, the program included Colombia and Mexico for the first time alongside Spain, reaching a total of 559 young participants.
International competition.
After six months of online competition, the final stage brought together five teams from the three countries in a 25-hour uninterrupted hackathon. The challenge focused on developing technological solutions for urban issues such as critical resource management, emergency response, connectivity, and digital security. From Colombia, the Seed Solutions IA Team presented a secure digital twin management platform for emergencies.
Their proposal stood out for operational coordination, real-time monitoring, and system cyber resilience, with a strong emphasis on security, intelligent resource management, and decision-making support in critical scenarios. With strong support from the Colombian audience, the team placed fourth in the final.
Talent and transformation.
Esther de Gaspar, General Manager for Spain & Portugal at CDS, an HPE company, explains:
“The HPE CDS Tech Challenge is not just a competition; it is a real driver of transformation. We connect young talent with meaningful challenges, bringing them closer to real environments where they can apply artificial intelligence and data to solutions with tangible impact. The future is not waited for: it is built, and we build it together.”
The edition took place within the framework of the HPE GreenLake Alliance, an international network that connects smart urban infrastructures across Colombia, Spain, and Mexico. Within this framework, participants worked toward a shared goal: designing solutions for smarter, more sustainable, and more collaborative cities using artificial intelligence, data analytics, and advanced computing.
The program began in November and was structured into three phases: challenge resolution, project evolution in complex scenarios, and a final hackathon stage, recreating a progressive innovation environment over several months.
Impact-driven innovation.
Alfredo Yepez, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Latin America and Southern Europe (LASER) at HPE, and President and CEO of HPE Spain, states:
“At HPE, we firmly believe that the future of technology depends on young talent and their ability to apply innovation to real-world challenges. With the HPE CDS Tech Challenge, we reinforce our commitment to education, employability, and innovation with positive impact. More than a competition, it connects students with the professional world and helps them develop key skills in a real technological environment.”
From Colombia, the Seed Solutions AI Team from the National Open and Distance University (UNAD) participated. Mexico was represented by 52Sec from the Benemérita Autonomous University of Puebla.
Spain was represented by GTP and CyberQueens from the European University of Madrid, and Tres Días de Gracia from IES San Clemente in Santiago de Compostela. Juan Martin Barrero, Managing Director at HPE Colombia, notes:
“Colombia’s participation in this final reflects the ability of young talent to develop rigorous, applicable solutions aligned with challenges that are part of urban life. That connection between education and reality is one of the strengths of the program.”
For the first time in the history of the HPE CDS Tech Challenge, the winning team was composed of students from a higher vocational training program in Web Application Development. The team, “Tres días de gracia,” from IES San Clemente in Santiago de Compostela, won with a comprehensive digital twin management platform for emergency vehicles.
Their solution is designed to optimize response times, operational coordination, and resource usage during critical incidents, enabling the simultaneous management of units such as police, fire services, ambulances, and drones in a connected environment. The system integrates simulation, real-time monitoring, and decision-support capabilities.
As recognition, the winning team members will access a scholarship program designed to support their professional development at HPE, along with various technology prizes. Across its five editions, the HPE CDS Tech Challenge has established itself as one of the tech industry’s initiatives most closely connected to junior profiles and the professional ecosystem.
Since its launch, it has brought together more than 1,200 students from over 70 educational institutions. In addition, 20% of participants in the previous four final stages have joined HPE through scholarships or employment contracts, reinforcing its role as a pathway into tech careers.
With this fifth edition, HPE and CDS, an HPE company, consolidate a program born in Spain five years ago that now connects young talent from three countries around challenges that impact people’s lives, cities, and the services that sustain them.
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