A team of students from Tecnunresult has won the II Surfboard Innovation Contest organized by Fomento de San Sebastián and its Cluster Donostia Surf City with its project Eggy Surfboards, which consists of a detachable and customized surfboard. The team, formed by students Pablo Fernández Acín (Industrial Master), Manuel de Benavides (Industrial Technologies), Jon Apaolaza (design) and Aldo Bertomeu (design) will receive a award of 1,000 euros and, in addition, one of the team members will be able to attend to one of the cluster's business trips.

This was a contest in which the students had to indicate a teacher who would supervise them and serve as an intermediary in the communication with Fomento San Sebastián, since the dates of the different meetings were not fixed in advance and had to be discussed. Professor Aitziber López was the one chosen by the students of Tecnun who finally won the first award. "I simply gave them my opinion when they asked for it, since they were hesitating between two ideas. And then I read the report and made some small corrections and suggestions," explains Aitziber López, who emphasizes that the merit belongs to the students.

López points out that, of the 20 projects presented, the other 19 were from Mondragon Unibertsitatea. "The companies in the sector were very grateful for the existence of this competition because they commented that for them it is a way of receiving fresh ideas that make them think about new challenges and opportunities, something that they often cannot do because the day-to-day running of the company takes up too much of their time," says the teacher at Tecnun. "After the award ceremony submission , Adur Letamendia, from Pukas, spent a long time talking to the students at Tecnun and commented that he was very interested in the idea, that it was something they had already been thinking about and that he wanted to be with them again to see what opportunities could be found. He invited us to come and visit his factory one day", concludes Aitziber López.

For his part, one of the award-winning students from Tecnun , Jon Apaolaza, explains that his project consists of a modular board that is divided into three parts: the central part (the yolk) to which the tip and the tail are attached. "Although really the strong point of our board, which we have called Eggy, is that each person can design and assemble their own board." The fact that the nose (the tip) and tail (the tail) are made with 3D printing allows the Username to combine them in such a way that they can adapt to any subject of wave without interfering with the surfer's personality or style, enhancing his skill and helping him to know and know how the different types of boards that exist and will exist work, something that will be much more accessible in the near future. "Eggy is a new step towards personalization," says Apaolaza.

"I think we won because we deserved it, and I don't say it out of arrogance, but because I really think so. We were the only group of those who competed, in which we all surfed and that was quite noticeable both in the report, as in the presentation we made, "says proudly the student of design of Tecnun. "We have understood the new technological innovations that are in the industry (3D printing) and we have incorporated them into the world of surfing always respecting the environment. It has also been very valuable to have multidisciplinary people on the team; it is true that we are all engineers, but there are two engineers from design, an industrialist and a mechanic, all passionate about surfing and eager to learn."

Finally, and after learning of Pukas' interest in the prototype, Apaolaza points out that "for our part we are delighted that this project is not just an innovative idea and will develop much more with the financial aid of professionals in this sector as Pukas, SurfLogic or Trinity, companies that belong to the cluster Surf City Donostia. In the submission awards we were talking with Adur Letamendia who was very interested in our project and wanted to give more travel to our idea. The truth is that everything is still a bit up in the air and we do not really know what plans there may be in the future, but we are very excited about the idea".