Pedro Pineda, Iván Pesantez, David Pinos and Carlos Zea, all electronic engineering students in the university's branch campus in Cuenca, won the 2018 StartUPS Hackathon which was held in the university's Coworking office on March 2nd and 3rd. The aim of this year's competition was come up with innovative solutions for the city's mobility system.

50 people who were divided into 12 groups took part in this competition to generate new ideas that will improve mobility and respect for crosswalks. The idea to come up with solutions to this problem was suggested by the city's mobility and transportation company EMOV EP. 

The winners of the competition suggested implementing an intelligent pedestrian traffic light which can be activated and adjusted using the "Movilizate" card or with a pushbutton so that the time of pedestrian traffic can be adjusted depending on the person, especially for the elderly and people with disabilities. They also suggested the use of an application that allows people to report the misuse of the crosswalk, another idea is to get public and private companies, schools, high schools and universities involved in order to create awareness.

Second place was for students from Universidad del Azuay David Mejia, Cristina Cabrera and William Villa. Their proposal was to use sensors and lights to alert drivers to reduce their speed and pedestrians to use the crosswalk. 

The winners will implement their project along with EMOV EP and will also have the opportunity to visit important technology companies in the city of Quito and Bogota. The university will also grant the winners an economic prize so they can continue working on their project. 

The university, concerned about encouraging entrepreneurship and creating solutions for society, invites everyone to join the several entrepreneurship events that will take place in the university.