In Cluj-Napoca, a team of students is turning engineering into a laboratory on wheels, building solar vehicles capable of crossing continents every year. In Bucharest, other architecture and engineering students are maintaining solar homes that produce more energy than they consume and gaining international recognition. Two complementary initiatives, Solis and EFdeN, show how Romania is shaping leaders through practical education, how it can compete in global competitions and how it can generate social and legislative impact.
School through real projects
Both Solis and EFdeN are more than competition teams. They function as alternative schools where students apply what they learn at university and discover what it means to take a project from idea to implementation. At Cluj-Napoca, budding engineers learn how to design and assemble a complete vehicle: mechanics, electronics, software, logistics, homologation and field testing. In Bucharest, future architects and engineers build smart and energy-efficient houses from concept to execution, test materials, passive systems and energy management solutions.
The result is a generation of graduates who enter the job market not just with diplomas, but with practical experience and skills in leadership, teamwork and adapting to real-life situations.
Global competition
Both teams represent Romania in major international competitions. In 2025, Solis traveled over 2,700 km across the Australian desert in the World Solar Challenge, demonstrating that a vehicle with a battery of just 3 kWh and a weight of 200 kg can rival the best student teams in the world. Next challenge: the European Solar Challenge 2026 in Belgium, a 24-hour circuit race.
EFdeN has competed in several editions of the Solar Decathlon, the World Solar Home Olympics, winning important awards, including 1st place in Comfort Conditions and Public’s Choice for the VATRA prototype. The experience gained has been transformed into educational resources and permanent infrastructures, such as the prototypes rebuilt in Romania and open to the public.
The competitions thus become not only a validation of Romanian talent, but also a source of international visibility, drawing the attention of business and society to the potential of young people.
Social impact and social transfer
The value of the two projects far exceeds the rankings. Solis has demonstrated that Romania can successfully participate in the big league of solar mobility and, more importantly, is the training framework for a stream of young engineers trained for critical industries: automotive, energy, digitalization. EFdeN, building on the experience of solar homes, has contributed to the reform of prosumer legislation and launched the European Institute for Sustainability – the first institute in Romania dedicated to training leaders capable of creating innovative and responsible solutions to climate and social challenges.
Both projects are innovation hubs connecting education with industry and research. The technical solutions being tested – flexible panels with over 24% efficiency at Solis or energy recovery ventilation systems at EFdeN – have direct transfer potential. At the same time, their inspirational stories show young people that Romania has the resources to compete at the highest level when there is support and trust.
Part of a social fabric
Both Solis and EFdeN depend on a network of over a hundred industrial, institutional and educational partners. Transporting the vehicle to Australia, equipping the labs, financing the materials to build the houses, transporting them to other continents – all are only possible with the involvement of business.
For companies, these partnerships bring clear benefits: association with innovation and technical excellence, access to talent already trained under real-world conditions, and public legitimacy by supporting educational and sustainable projects.
Solis and EFdeN are not just student teams. They are schools for the future, complementing the existing education system. They are platforms for innovation and vectors for social change. By supporting them, business is not just funding a competition, but investing in Romania’s energy transition, in its young and future inhabitants.