Linde to use Blippar® app as brand awareness/recruiting tool at Shell Eco-marathon

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Apr 07, 2015, 10:00 ET

MURRAY HILL and NEW PROVIDENCE, N.J., April 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Linde North America, Inc., will be using visual browsing app Blippar® to attract young innovators to its information booth at the 2015 Shell Eco-marathon, one of the world's most challenging student innovation competitions for energy-efficient cars, where Linde is the sole supplier of hydrogen for the fuel cell vehicle entrants. Blippar is a visual browsing app that uses image-recognition and augmented reality technologies to overlay the physical world with digital content via a smart phone camera.

Linde plans to use this exciting technology to introduce event attendees in Linde capabilities, as well spark interest of the young innovators in Linde advanced technology and clean energy as a possible career opportunity. The event, which will be held in Detroit, Michigan, on April 9-12, has attracted more than 136 teams of college and high school students from across the Americas to take to the track to see who travels farthest on the least amount of fuel.

"We want to make the experience fun for them and at the same time give them an idea of how Linde gases impact people's lives, including zero-emissions hydrogen fuel cell vehicles that will impact the future," said Sheila Eggert, head of Talent Management, Americas. "We'll ask them to share our enthusiasm for renewable energy by taking a selfie, and sharing it on Twitter or Instagram with #FutureWithLinde for a chance to win an HP Tablet. We're using technology that these young people are familiar with to make it an enjoyable experience."

"Visual discovery holds huge potential for education, communication and engagement across various sectors, and our work with Linde North America, Inc., expands our footprint into a new industry," said Lisa Hu, Vice President and General Manager, Blippar, North America. "Blippar's image recognition capabilities enable people to instantaneously draw digital information from physical objects or images in the world around them, so our technology lends itself ideally to an innovative and effective recruitment campaign. In this case potential candidates can blipp branded collateral to access information about the company, available positions and the application process."

Shell Eco-marathon is a unique competition that challenges students around the world to design, build and drive the most energy-efficient car in several categories. This annual event is held in Asia, the Americas and Europe, where student teams take to the track to see who travels farthest on the least amount of fuel. Internal combustion entries include gasoline, diesel, liquid fuel made from natural gas and ethanol. In the electric mobility category, vehicles are powered by hydrogen fuel cells and lithium-based batteries.

Linde will be supporting 12 hydrogen fuel cell teams and will supply ready-to-install hydrogen gas cylinders for their cars. "We want to attract as many of the entrants as possible to our booth and we think Blippar gives us a great chance to do that," said Eggert.

The Blippar app is available for free download in the Apple iTunes Store and on Google Play.

Linde North America, Inc., is a member of The Linde Group. In the 2014 financial year, The Linde Group generated revenue of USD 17.9 bn (EUR 17.047 bn), making it the largest gases and engineering company in the world with approximately 65,500 employees working in more than 100 countries worldwide. The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards long-term profitable growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business with forward-looking products and services. Linde acts responsibly towards its shareholders, business partners, employees, society and the environment – in every one of its business areas, regions and locations across the globe. The company is committed to technologies and products that unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development.

Under the "Clean Technology by Linde" label, the company offers a wide range of products and technologies that help to render renewable energy sources financially viable, and significantly slow down the depletion of fossil resources or reduce the level of CO₂ emitted. This ranges from specialty gases for solar module manufacturing, industrial-scale CO₂ separation and application technologies to alternative fuels and energy carriers such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) and hydrogen.

For more information go to http://www.linde.com/cleantechnology

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SOURCE Linde North America, Inc.