The Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India, and Bentley Systems, Incorporated today announced that the project designed by students of Team 1 from Apeejay School, Noida won top honors in the 2007-2008 Future Cities India 2020 competition. The programme, which was launched in 2006 by the Ministry of Science and Technology and Bentley Systems, is a partnership among government, universities, and the business community. It encourages students to use their design skills, along with Bentley’s software for the world’s infrastructure, to help prepare India’s cities for the year 2020 – when it is estimated that more than 50 percent of India’s citizens will live in the country’s largest cities. All submissions provided a plan for the future redevelopment of the Commonwealth Games 2010 international zone, which will consist of temporary structures – everything from media centers, entertainment facilities, and practice grounds to a commercial center and transportation system – that will be dismantled at the conclusion of the Games.

Shri. Kapil Sibal, the Honorable Minister for Science & Technology & Earth Sciences, presided over the award ceremony at the Shangri-La Hotel. “It is with great pleasure that I present the Future Cities India 2020 award to Team1, Apeejay School, Noida in recognition of their creative vision and excellent work,” said Sibal. “For the second straight year we have made students aware of the enormous infrastructure challenges facing this country. At the same time, we have planted the engineering seed in the minds of our nation’s youth with the hope that they will one day determine the infrastructure future of this great nation.”

Second place honors went to Team 1, DAV Public School, Gurgaon.

Bhupinder Singh, senior vice president, Bentley Software, said, “We are excited to be a part of this wonderful programme, share the ministry’s enthusiasm for it, and appreciate the incredible maturity, talent, and vision the students have displayed in this year’s competition. Future Cities India 2020 is a tribute to all the creative minds that have developed innovative design solutions to help address India’s real-world infrastructure needs.”

Commenting on Apeejay School, Noida’s win, and their experience during the 5 month long competition, Team Leader Ajaypat Jain said, “Future Cities India 2020 gave us an opportunity to serve our country in a special way – and it was an opportunity we did not take lightly. We are truly fortunate to be part of this initiative as it has given us practical experience for our future endeavors.

“Envisioning what India should look like 12 years from now wasn’t easy,” continued Ajaypat Jain. “But with the help of our teachers and mentors, and working with state-of-the-art modeling software like Bentley MXROAD and MicroStation V8 XM Edition, we were able to produce a winning design.” The other team members of Apeejay School, Noida were Anshul Singh, E R Subramanian and Gagan Anand.

The Future Cities India 2020 competition consisted of 14 student teams representing 10 high schools. Teachers and industry mentors guided each team in designing a redevelopment plan for the post Commonwealth Games international zone. Using Bentley software, students designed an innovative functional use for the site, while keeping in mind the concerns of the neighboring residential community and all environmental issues. Distinguished experts from the infrastructure community judged the project presentations based on five criteria: project design solution report, computer model, expenditure summary report, physical model and team presentation.

The Ministry of Science & Technology opened the 2007-2008 Future Cities India 2020 design competition to all 11th grade standard school students from Delhi and the National Capital Region. Bentley, through its BE Careers programme, provided software products and solutions to the students and trained them, along with their mentors, in their use.

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Bentley Systems, Incorporated provides software for the lifecycle of the world’s infrastructure. The company’s comprehensive portfolio for the building, plant, civil, and geospatial verticals spans architecture, engineering, construction (AEC) and operations. With revenues now surpassing $400 million annually, and more than 2400 colleagues globally, Bentley is the leading provider of AEC software to the Engineering News-Record Top Design Firms and major owner-operators, and was named the world’s No. 2 provider of GIS/geospatial software solutions in a Daratech research study.

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