PRESS RELEASE

September 7, 2017

SAINT-GOBAIN LAUNCHES SECOND EDITION OF ITS BUSINESS CHALLENGE WITH AGORIZE Saint-Gobain, in partnership with Agorize, the online platform for open innovation challenges, is launching another edition of its collaborative innovation challenge. This year, Saint-Gobain is setting students and start-ups the task of boosting the efficiency of businesses and professionals in the building sector. They can submit their project until October 22, 2017.

Start-ups can participate in the competition with innovative products and services that they have developed and adapted to Saint-Gobain's requirements. Students are encouraged to imagine themselves to be a building professional specialized in renovation (e.g. a gypsum wallboard specialist, plumber, mason, carpenter or tile setter) or a small general contracting business and address a question faced by the CEO of any SME: "How can future-forward tools and services help us be more competitive?"

The Challenge will take place over a four-month period and culminate with the finals, an event to be held in Paris in December 2017. Start-ups and students wishing to enter the competition are required to fill out an online questionnaire and present their project on the platform. The most outstanding among them will be given a chance to make their pitch to Saint-Gobain's senior management. The prizes for start-ups will be monetary or take the form of a partnership for the deployment of their innovative product or service. As for students, a number of prizes will be offered, including a trip.

For the first Business Challenge in 2016, the team from DatchMe, the first participative interior decoration e-showroom, won the first prize for their inventive idea: Pinterest and Lapeyre, a Saint-Gobain subsidiary, would team up to offer online users a chance to win a kitchen. Starting on October 17, this operation will be featured on the lapeyre.fr website and at the Lapeyre store on rue des Halles in Paris.

Signups for start-ups and students are already open on the Challenge platform.

Follow the Challenge on the @saintgobain Twitter account (#startup) until October 22!

ABOUT SAINT-GOBAIN

Saint-Gobain designs, manufactures and distributes materials and solutions which are key ingredients in the wellbeing of each of us and the future of all. They can be found everywhere in our living places and our daily life: in buildings, transportation, infrastructure and in many industrial applications. They provide comfort, performance and safety while addressing the challenges of sustainable construction, resource efficiency and climate change.

€39.1 billion in sales in 2016 Operates in 67 countries More than 170,000 employees www.saint-gobain.com

@saintgobain

MEDIA CONTACT:

Susanne Trabitzsch: +33 (0)1 47 62 43 25

ABOUT AGORIZE

Agorize was established in 2011 to meet an obvious need: large companies must open up to collaborative creation to preserve their leading position and avoid being displaced due to disruption. Agorize is the missing link between large organizations and innovators across the world.

With more than 200 open innovation challenges to its credit, Agorize has partnered with over 150 big companies, including Axa, Aéroport de Paris, Air Liquide, Bank of America, Décathlon, Deutsche Telekom, Engie, Google, L'Oréal, Maif, Pepsico, Uber, Tinder and Total.

With offices in Paris, Stuttgart, Hong Kong, Seoul and Montreal, Agorize was voted "Best Collaborative SaaS Platform 2016" by French Tech. For more information: www.agorize.com

MEDIA CONTACT:

Charles Thou: charles@agorize.com

Wendel SE published this content on 07 September 2017 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
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