A national competition between "Tech de Co" (Sales & Marketing) departments!

The Alticiades is an annual national competition that brings together students from "Techniques de Commercialisation" (Sales & Marketing) departments within IUTs (University Institutes of Technology) from across France. Held over four days at a winter sports resort the event features an intensive mix of business-related challenges and sporting competitions. Participation in the Alticiades serves as a formal student project, and I have been involved in supervising these efforts since 2026. Over several months, student teams secure funding, organize fundraising initiatives, reach out to local producers, and design their own competition booth, complete with an OGNI (i.e., an "Objet Glissant Non Identifié", or "Unidentified Sliding Object").

Once there, around twenty IUTs compete against one another in a variety of challenges:

• The professional component: This includes a gastronomy fair where each team promotes and sells regional products from its local area, as well as a commercial negotiation challenge judged by panels of professionals.
• The sporting and creative component: Students compete in a ski slalom, a relay race, and the famous "OGNI" challenge, in which they must race down a slope on an unconventional, sliding contraption of their own design and construction.

This competition is therefore a true springboard that embodies the "Tech de Co" spirit blending personal achievement, creativity, and commercial skills with a high-level sense of camaraderie.