Banco Santander has launched the competition Santander NEO´s Challenge, which’s registration period will remain open until December 15. As part of its bet to contribute to the progress of people and companies, the bank wishes to create a relationship with students who want to develop their skills in information technologies, using their knowledge in the Commercial Intelligence area of banking.

Angel Rivera, general director and head of the Commercial Banking division of Banco Santander says: “Santander NEO´s Challenge is an international competition that bets on university talent, multiculturalism and the new technologies applied to the Commercial Intelligence of banking. The Commercial Banking division of Santander brings an analytical challenge for students to increase customers’ satisfaction. It shall enable the exchange of new ideas among students from 6 different places where Santander has operations.”

Universia, the network that gathers 1.345 universities from 23 countries in Latin America, and that has Banco Santander’s patronage –through Santander Universidades-, collaborates with the initiative by bringing to the university community.

Who can participate?

University students from Argentina, Chile, Spain, Mexico, Portugal and the US, who are in their final year upon graduation and Master and PHD students.
Teams can be from any kind university discipline, though it is mostly aimed for students of statistics, mathematics, actuarial sciences, engineers and computer sciences.

Participants can make teams of up to three people, having also a tutor and a substitute.

The competition has two phases

Local / online phase: university teams from each country shall compete among them to have a local winner of the Santander NEO´s Challenge. To achieve that, they need to solve a task that they shall receive from the organization from November 1^st on.

The winning team from each country will go to the final phase, where they shall compete with the local winners from other countries.

Final/on site phase: the 6 winning teams of the local phase will gather in Madrid (Spain), in a working day in which they will have to solve and explain a task in front of a jury.

The jury shall analyse the two tasks of the competition and the methodology and name the winning team of the I Edition of Santander NEO´s Challenge.

Calendar and milestones of the contest

·Up to December 15^th: enrolment of participants through www.santanderneoschallenge.com

• Up to December 15^th: delivery of data and documentation needed by every team to solve the task.
  ·Up to January 31^st: Teams must deliver the solution of the task.
• From February 3rd to the 15th: the winners of the local phase will be announced and the solution of the task will be published in the website.
  ·February 15th: final phase call.

The award: a course in the most prestigious entrepreneurship school.

The winning team will follow the Babson Entrepreneurship Program for Students, at the Babson College of Massachusetts, in the United States.

The award includes transport and accommodation during the two weeks of the course (July 2016).
With this initiative, Banco Santander and Universia are taking another step forward to strengthen the university-company relationship, promoting the development of university talent.

For more information click here.