Press releases

The aim of the Foundation Scholarship is to show students that they can play a vital role in community projects to help disadvantaged people, such as fighting social exclusion or illiteracy, helping elderly or disabled people, protecting the environment .... While it offers them the means to exercise their creativity and demonstrate their commitment, the Scholarship also provides the opportunity for students to put into practice what they have learned during their studies and to gain more in-depth knowledge through their contact with the Steria volunteer sponsors who supervise them and provide them with both the necessary skills to manage projects as well as technical expertise. The innovative aspect of the projects is encouraged through the use of technologies promoting mobility, accessibility or using home automation, robotics, etc.

Students are invited to put forward their projects before 15th April 2010. Three projects will be shortlisted, according to the Foundation's criteria - the use of new technologies, the ability to adapt these new tools to the needs and aims of a structure or community project, the extent to which the tools are user-friendly and adapted to the public concerned, and the measures taken to ensure that the project is sustainable. In May 2010, the chosen teams will have to defend their projects in front of the Foundation's Grand Jury composed of members of the French Academy of Sciences and Steria Managers.

Instructions for Applying for the 2010 Steria-Institut de France Foundation Scholarship:

Students interested in applying should form an association. To start with, they can pre-enrol on-line at www.fondationsteria.org, and can, if they wish, ask the Foundation to help them validate their project.

The students, in teams of 3 to 6, then have until 15th April 2010 to send in their completed application forms, following the instructions below:

- Presenting the team and the project leader
- Including a project summary outlining the actions envisaged,
- Presenting the project's simplified budget and provisional schedule,
- Regulations can be found at www.fondationsteria.org

"Ben'INT" from the Télécom SudParis Institute and ESIEA's "Computer Assisted Vision (VAO)" project - winners of the 2009 Scholarship

In 2009, the Jury, composed of members of the French Academy of Sciences and Steria Managers, decided to award two prizes.

The first award-winning project, Ben'INT, was put forward by a team of engineering students from the Telecom SudParis Institute. It involved providing computer training to Beninese teachers and pupils, who will then pass on the skills they have learned to others.

The second award-winning project, VAO (Computer Assisted Vision) was presented by students from ESIEA. It aims to design software incorporated into a portable digital magnifying glass. The students created a computer-assisted channel of vision placed inside a mini video camera built into the magnifying glass. This free, adaptable, portable and ergonomic system is designed to help the partially sighted to read documents, both on a computer screen and in print.

For further details, please visit www.fondationsteria.org

 About the Institut de France (www.institut-de-france.fr)

The Institut de France groups together five Academies: the French Academy, the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, the Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Fine Arts and the Academy of Ethics and Political Science. The Institut de France was founded on 25th October 1795 and its current chancellor is Gabriel de Broglie.