Oracle Academy organizes student event in cooperation with selected Oracle Partners in Utrecht, The Netherlands

On September 29, 2023, Oracle and partners Accenture, Full-Orbit, Ordina, PwC, and Transfer Solutions hosted a student event at the Oracle office in Utrecht. Together they welcomed over 80 students from 12 different universities in the country. The students made up a diverse group of enthusiastic attendees, with study backgrounds ranging from Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, and Software Engineering to Innovative Development, Technology Law & Innovation, and International Business.

After a short welcome by Wilfred Scholman, Country Leader, Oracle Netherlands, they listened to a lecture by Wouter van der Brugghen, Date Science Tech Specialist Lead, EMEA, on “Oracle for the Environment”. Wouter showed how SailGP, sailing’s fastest racing league, relies on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) to deliver real-time data to the league’s eight national teams, broadcast partners, and fans worldwide. OCI helps teams optimize performance and give fans a thrilling new experience, analyzing no less than 240.000 data points.

SailGP uses OCI and Oracle Autonomous Database to stream real-time race metrics to athletes and fans. Doing so reduces the league’s costs and IT complexity while providing a deeper understanding of team and athlete performance—additionally, using OCI supports the league’s goal to lower its carbon footprint.

Wouter also touched upon the the story of NIBIO (The Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research) and the SmartForest Project that uses Oracle Cloud to foster sustainability. NIBIO analyzes data taken from drones, robots, and lasers that scan Norway’s forests and delivers the information to forestry experts working hard to protect the forests for generations to come.

He also spoke about the World Bee Project. The declining bee population is not just a problem for honey lovers; it’s a threat to the global food supply. Oracle announced a partnership with The World Bee Project CIC in 2018, offering the use of its cloud storage and AI analytics tools to support the organization’s goals and innovations.

The group of students then split up into four smaller groups for an exciting rotation program. Within two hours they visited the Oracle Race Data Experience Center, learned more about Oracle Red Bull Racing, listened to reference cases from ‘Oracle in the daily life’ and got to test their Oracle knowledge in a quiz.

Oracle Netherlands opened a Oracle Race Data Experience Center earlier this year, actively introducing users to a real behind the wheel racing simulator showing the data, analytics and cloud technology that lead to winning racing strategies. The aim is to show users how data analytics help adapt and improve behavior and decision-making. At the same time, with the simulator, Oracle playfully demonstrates the power and unparalleled possibilities of modern technologies such as AI, machine learning, and the cloud.

Kevin van Aken, Principal Account Cloud Engineer, told a supporting, more in-depth story about Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and the architecture behind it. He explained how the partnership with Oracle Red Bull is driven by data and how Oracle’s technology is involved in race strategy, young driver development, engine development, and fan experience.

Oracle Partners Accenture, Full-Orbit, Ordina, PwC, and Transfer Solutions took the students on a trip, ‘Oracle in the Daily Life’, presenting them multiple reference cases of their customers using Oracle technology. The students were blown away by the enormous (and often hidden) presence of Oracle technology in their own daily life: the applications on their phones, the trains they take to university, the payments they make, the music they listen to, and so much more.

At the end of this intensive but fun afternoon, students networked and made solid connections with the companies present, and the students were able to challenge each other on the racing simulators. During the day they also got a chance to win fun Red Bull prizes.

A big thank you to everyone who participated in this event, and helped make it a success, and most of all a big thanks to all the students who participated!

Interested to find out what Oracle Academy can do for you? Visit our website: academy.oracle.com.