(8/7) Research of Marine Technology (RMT) Undip has won a prestigious achievement in the international energy-efficient boat design competition titled Monaco Energy Boat Challenge 2023. In this competition which took place from 3-8 July 2023, RMT Undip won the Special Prize: Upcycling for the Ocean for their boat, Diponegoro 1.0. RMT Undip successfully get the award because Diponegoro 1.0 was considered the most environmentally friendly and most efficient in using alternative energy.
The Monaco Energy Boat Challenge itself is one of the most prestigious competitions in the field of energy-efficient boat development. Organized by Club Yacht de Monaco, one of the oldest yacht clubs in the world, this competition gathered 50 teams from 31 universities and 25 countries to showcase each other abilities in crafting boats with the newest energy-efficient technologies. There are three main categories competed, namely Energy, Solar, and Open Class. RMT Undip participated in the Solar category with their latest boat, Diponegoro 1.0. In this competition, RMT Undip was the only representative from Indonesia and Southeast Asia who managed to go on the podium.
Rico Ade Putra, President of RMT Undip, revealed that RMT Undip’s participation in this competition was the first time for them. He and the team are grateful to have the opportunity to compete in the highest competition in the world of international energy-efficient boat development. “Actually there are many competitions of this kind in the world, but for Monaco itself, it is the peak for all of those competitions. There are competitions in the Netherlands, Canada, but the peak is in Monaco. You could say that everyone is preparing to go there (Monaco),” said Rico.
Muhammad Hasan Atqiya, Non-Technical Manager of RMT Undip added that since the beginning, RMT Undip has targeted to be able to compete in this event. He himself felt lucky to be able to learn about the newest innovations and technologies from around the world. “From the beginning, we saw this competition as a prestigious event. Here, we learned so many things, such as how to manage a team professionally. We also learn from there that our innovations and technologies here are not inferior compared to those out there. We exchanged knowledge a lot there,” he said.
Rico as the President of RMT Undip itself hoped that from this achievement RMT Undip can get more funding and wider research opportunities in the future so that they can develop their boat better. “Teams from other countries have to take a leave if they participate in this competition. They take a year off and focus on researching and developing their ship. Then the investment for them is also quite huge, some even up to billions of funds. So their research is incredible. We hope that we can be like that,” said Rico.
Photo by RMT Undip
