Uruguay's The Electric Factory and Ayax Toyota win at Cannes Lions 2021

The international creativity festival, Cannes Lions 2021, awarded a Silver and Bronze Lion to the initiative The HY Project, from the Uruguayan company The Elecrtic Factory and Ayax Toyota. On this occasion, the joint project was the winner in the Radio & Audio category.

For The Electric Factory and Ayax, the award demonstrated the opportunity they have to work in coordination and achieve small steps for the country, but with a global impact. "The characteristics of Uruguay and our reality create the perfect scenario for everything to be possible. The Electric Factory has always wanted to demonstrate that it is possible to be disruptive and global from the beginning and in every project. This award not only gives Uruguay back a Lion at Cannes, but also challenges traditional categories such as Audio," said The Electric Factory's co-founder and head of innovation, Juan Ciapessoni.

More than 23,000 pieces were entered in this edition of the festival. "To have won two lions and been finalists five times is an honor for us and an important step for a country like Uruguay because of the type of product we are talking about," added Ciapessoni.

In 2020 the prestigious business, technology and innovation magazine Fast World recognized The HY Project as one of the eight finalist ideas in the World Changing Ideas Awards 2020 and before that the project was a finalist in the SXSW Awards in the Smart City, Transportation and Logistic category.

In conjunction with Ayax Toyota and Curcio Capital -through its president Alejandro Curcio-, The Electric Factory created an acoustic warning system (AVAS) for electric and hybrid cars that not only alerts pedestrians, but also benefits nature, with a sound that contributes to the growth of plants and facilitates animal communication.

The project, which received support from Uruguay XXI, "combines innovation, technology and sustainability to achieve a better world and generate creative impact," said Juan Ciapessoni.

The creation of this acoustic vehicle alerting system, the first to focus on benefiting the environment, heralds new times for the automotive industry, which is looking towards ecological sustainability. In line with that concern, and after a fruitful exchange with scientists and government authorities, Ayax and Uruguay's The Electric Factory launched The HY Project (from the word "harmony"), which seeks to rebuild harmony between man and the environment.

"We are at a time when clean technologies are in vogue. The planet sustainability is on most companies' agenda. This invention is in line with that. We are thinking about how to leave a footprint that will leave the earth in better conditions for the generations to come",  Ciapessoni expressed.

The notoriety gained by this disruptive invention shows the explosive development of Uruguay in terms of technology and innovation. It also highlights the country's favorable ecosystem for this type of initiative, thanks to the talent of its professionals and the public-private synergy.

"Uruguay has the power to become an innovation hub. Thanks to its scale, infrastructure and costs, the country has a lot to offer as a global platform for testing and prototyping. We have an enormous potential for entrepreneurs from all over the world to come to Uruguay to create their inventions, for world talent to come here to develop, research, prototype and test their projects. Hopefully those projects will be linked to the areas of innovation, sustainability and new technologies ," Ciapessoni said. 

In this sense, the developer highlighted the pioneering nature of the project he is directing. "HY puts Uruguay in the spotlight, as a disruptive country. We are inspiring, we are showing that you do not need a mayor investment to generate an impact that can change the world," he concluded.

Read more about The HY Project here